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A REPORT 

ON 

VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

IN CHICAGO 

AND IN OTHER CITIES 



An analysis of the need for industrial and commercial training in Chicago, and a study 
of present provisions therefor in comparison with such provisions in twenty- 
nine other cities, together with recommendations as to the 
best form in which such training may be given in 
the public school system of Chicago 



BY 

A SUB-COMMITTEE 

OF THE 

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EDUCATION, 1910-1911 

OF THE 

CITY CLUB OF CHICAGO 



Ernest A. Wreidt 
William J. Bogan 
George H. Mead, Chairman 

Sub-Committee 



CITY CLUB OF CHICAGO 
1912 



t>{' 



v^^V 



Copja-ight, 1912, 
By City Club of Chicago. 



THE HENRY 0. SHEPARD CO., PRINTERS, CHICAGO. 

57 






Published by Authority of the Directors of the 
City Club of Chicago. 

Chicago, February 23, 1912. 



To the Board of Directors of the City Club of Chicago: 

Gentlemen, — The subjoined report has been in process of 
growth since the latter part of 1909. The committee of the club 
on Public Education for 1909-10 presented to the directors of the 
club, in November, 1909, a plan for the study of the needs for indus- 
trial and commercial training in Chicago, of the actual training which 
is given there, and especially of the industrial and commercial train- 
ing which is given elsewhere in the country. The plan was presented 
by the board to Mrs. Emmons Blaine, whose generosity made it pos- 
sible to meet the expenses of the investigation. Mr. Ernest A. 
Wreidt undertook for the committee a detailed study of the problem 
of industrial training in Chicago and elsewhere in the country. The 
committee secured the services for a few months of Mr. Walter C. 
Campbell to study the problem of commercial training in Chicago, 
and the commercial schools and courses in Boston, Cleveland and 
St. Louis. At the suggestion of the committee, Mr. Irving M. 
Ristine made an intensive study of the results of the schooling of a 
number of boys engaged in Chicago's industries, who had left school 
at different grades from the fifth up. These three gentlemen were 
engaged in research in education in the graduate school of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, and at certain points were given advice and sug- 
gestions by members of the faculty of the Department of Education 
of the University, for which we wish to express our great apprecia- 
tion. 

When this material had been gathered it was turned over by the 
club Committee on Public Education for 1910-11 to a sub-committee 
consisting of Mr. Wreidt, who had in the meantime become a mem- 
ber of the Committee on Public Education, Mr. William J. Bogan, 
principal of the Lane Technical High School, and Mr. George H. 
Mead, the chairman of the committee. This sub-committee has been 
occupied up to the present time in formulating its recommendations 
and in putting the material in form for submission to your body. 
These recommendations were presented in outline by the sub-com- 
mittee to the Committee on Public Education in June, 1911, and 
were approved by that committee. Beyond this the responsibility 



for the report rests upon the sub-committee. The report has not 
been considered by the committee of the club on PubHc Education 
for 1911-12. 

We desire in presenting this report to express our own great 
appreciation of Mrs. Emmons Blaine's intelligent interest and gen- 
erosity, also our appreciation of the cordial cooperation of the Chi- 
cago Association of Commerce with the sub-committee in investigat- 
ing the conditions and needs of industrial training in Chicago. The 
Education Committee of that association recommended such cooper- 
ation to the Executive Committee of that body, and that committee 
gave the sub-committee assistance of the most valuable kind, furnish- 
ing letters signed by their president, the chairman of the Executive 
Committee and the general secretary, to all the chairmen of their 
subdivisions, thus facilitating approach to the different houses and 
manufacturing establishments in Chicago. We v/ish to express our 
great appreciation of the ready cooperation of the Committee on 
Schools of the Chicago Federation of Labor, who turned over to us 
the replies made by the unions comprised in the Federation of Labor, 
to the questionnaire which is quoted in our report. We desire, 
finally, to express our great appreciation of the frequent assistance 
given us by Mrs. Young, Superintendent of Education in Chicago, 
and by others in the office of the Superintendent of Education. 

With this preface, we respectfully present to you the following 
report on Vocational Training in Chicago and in other cities. 

Ernest A. Wreidt,, 
William J. Bog an, 
George H. Mead, chairman. 

Sub-committee. 
March 12, 1912. 



PART I 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER I. GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

PAGE 

A. General Summary 1 

B. Recommendations 12 

1. Two-year Elementary Vocational Schools 15 

2. Elementary Industrial Schools for Over-age Children Below 

Grade Seven 21 

3. Optional Industrial and Commercial Courses in Grades Seven 

and Eight 21 

4. Trade School for Boys 23 

5. Trade School for Girls 24 

6. Apprentice Schools 24 

7. State Legislation for Day Continuation Schools 24 

8. Cooperation with Employers to Secure Day Continuation 

Schools 24 

9. Legislation to Raise the Compulsory Age Limit 25 

10. Technical and Trade Courses in the High School 25 

11. Cooperative Courses in the Technical High School 26 

12. Industrial Courses for Girls in the High School 27 

13. Central High School of Commerce 27 

14. Present Commercial Courses in the High School 27 

PART II 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN CHICAGO AND IN 

OTHER CITIES 

CHAPTER II. THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS FOR INDUS- 
TRIAL EDUCATION 

Manual Training and Industrial Training 28 

Elimination of Pupils 29 

The " Wasted Years," Fourteen to Sixteen 33 

Conclusions 39 

CHAPTER HI. CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES OF 

CHICAGO AND THE ATTITUDE OF EMPLOYERS 42 

Method of Obtaining Reports 44 

General Summary 45 

vii 



viii REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

PAGE 

The Detailed Results 48 

Recapitulation 64 

Comments of Individual Employers 65 

Analysis of the Comments of Individual Employers 72 



CHAPTER IV. ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR IN CHICAGO 
AND IN OTHER CITIES 73 

Attitude of the Chicago Federation of Labor 74 

Attitude of Skilled Workmen 76 

Comments of Individual Unions 77 

Attitude of Labor Leaders in Chicago 80 

The American Federation of Labor 82 

\ 

CHAPTER V. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN 

CHICAGO 

I. Public Industrial Schools and Courses 

High Schools 83 

1. The Technical High Schools 83 

2. The Revised Curriculum 84 

The Four-year Vocational Courses 85 

3. The Two-year Vocational Courses 93 

4. The Two-year Technical College Course 100 

5. The Flower Technical High School for Girls 102 

Elementary Schools 104 

1. The Farragut Elementary School 104 

2. The Elementary Industrial Course 108 

Continuation Schools Ill 

1. The Apprentice Schools Ill 

The Continuation School for Building Trade Workers in 

Munich, Germany 119 

2. Evening Continuation Classes 127 

3. Further Provisions for Day Continuation Classes 127 

4. State Legislation 130 

II. A Comparison with Other Cities 

Chicago 131 

Boston, Massachusetts 131 

Newton, Massachusetts 133 

Cleveland, Ohio 133 

Cincinnati, Ohio 135 

New York, New York 136 

Summary 137 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 

III. Private Industrial Schools 

PAGE 

1. The Lewis Institute Co-operati\^ Course 137 

2. The Day and Evening Classes of the Young Men's Christian 

Association 140 

3. The Inland Printer Correspondence Course in Printing, Under the 

Direction of the International Typographical Union 141 

4. Factory Apprentice Schools 141 

(1) The Western Electric Company 142 

(2) The McCormick Works 142 

(3) The School for Apprentices of the Lakeside Press 142 

5. The Coyne National Trade School 142 

6. The Chicago Technical College 143 

CHAPTER VI. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES 

General Impressions 

The Importance of Intermediate Schools 144 

Factory Apprentice Schools 147 

Attitude of Trade Unions 148 

Co-operative Courses 149 

" Industrialized " Shopwork 151 

Related Academic Work and Drawing 153 

Qualifications of Teachers 155 

Separate Buildings for Industrial Courses 156 

Industrial Education for Girls 157 

CHAPTER VII. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES — Continued 

Detailed Descriptions 
I. Industrial Schools and Courses Classified as to Types 161 

1. Optional Industrial Courses in Grammar School Not Inter- 

fering with Regular Graduation 

1. In Menomonie, Wisconsin 162 

2. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts 164 

3. In Boston, Massachusetts 166 

4. In the Washington-Allston Elementary School, Boston, Mas- 

sachusetts 167 

5. In New York City 168 

2. Grammar Schools and Optional Courses — Abandoning Regu- 

lar Graduation 

1. The Elementary Industrial School, Cleveland, Ohio 168 



X REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

PAGE 

2. North Bennet Street Industrial School, Boston, Massachusetts 169 

3. Two Elementary Schools, Boston, Massachusetts 170 

3. Preparatory Trade Schools 

1. The Factory Sci-iool, Rochester, New York 170 

2. The Vocational School, Albany, New York 173 

3. The Vocational and Trace Schools, Yonkers, New York 177 

4. School Number 100, New York City 177 

5. The Independent Industrial School, Newton, Massachusetts 177 

6. A Preparatory Trade School, Columbus, Ohio 179 

7. Hebrew Technical Institute, for Boys, New York City 179 

8. The Industrial School, New Bedford, Massachusetts 179 

9. The Vocational School, Springfield, Massachusetts 180 

10. The Pre-apprentice School of Printing and Bookbinding, Boston, 

Massaci-iusetts 181 

4. Trade Schools 

A. Under Public Auspices 

1. The School of Trades for Boys, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 182 

2. The Trade School, Worcester, Massachusetts 183 

3. The Philadelphia Trades Schools 185 

4. The Trade School for Machinists, Saginaw, Michigan 185 

5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York City 186 

6. The Trade School for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts 187 

7. The Milwaukee Trade School for Girls 189 

B. Under Private Auspices 

1. The Hebrew Technical School for Girls, New York City 189 

2. The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, William- 

son School, Pennsylvania 190 

3. The Scfiool for Apprentices and Journeymen, Carnegie Techni- 

cal Schools, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 190 

4. The National Trade Schools and Technical Institute, Indian- 

apolis, Indiana 191 

5. The School of Printing, North End Union, Boston, Massachu- 

setts 192 

6. The Short-course Trade School 192 

7. The Baron de Hirsch Trade School, New York City 193 

8. The New York Trade School, New York City 193 

5. Technical and Trade Courses in High Schools 

1. The Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio 193 

2. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Massa- 

chusetts 19-i 

3. The Boys' Industrial Course and the Girls' Industrial Course, 

Cincinnati, Ohio 195 



TABLE OF COXTEXTS xi 

PAGE 

4. The Technical High School, Newton, Massachusetts 19G 

5. The Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts 198 

6. Afternoon Industrial Classes, Boston, Massachusetts 199 

7. The High School, Menomonie, Wisconsin 199 

8. The High School, Muskegon, Michigan 199 

6. Cooperative Schools and Courses 

A. Daj^ Continuation Schools 

1. The Day Continuation School, Cincinnati, Ohio 200 

2. Day Continuation Classes, Boston, ]\Iassachusetts 201 

3. The School of Salesmanship for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts. 203 

4. Continuation Schools for Unskilled Workers, IMunich, Ger- 

many 204 

B. Alternate-week Courses 

1. The Beverly Industrial School, Be\^rly, Massachusetts 207 

2. The Co-operative Course, Fitchburg, Massachusetts 208 

II. Separate High Schools for Technical and Manual Training Courses. 

1. In St. Louis, Missouri 209 

2. In Chicago, Illinois 209 

3. In Cle\^land, Ofiio 209 

4. In Boston, Massachusetts 209 

5. In Newton, Massachusetts 210 

6. In New York, New York 210 

7. In Cincinnati, Ohio 210 

CHAPTER VIII. INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES — Concluded 

Shop Methods. Academic Courses and Drawing. Wages of Former 

Students 

I. Industrial Methods in Shopwork 212 

1. In the Industrial Courses, Boston, Massachusetts 213 

2. In the Industrial School, New Bedford, Massachusetts 214 

II. Drawing and Academic Courses Related to Industrial Needs. 

Mathematics 215 

1. Shop Mathematics 215 

2. A book of problems, Lewis Institute, Chicago 216 

3. Shop Problems in Mathematics 216 

4. In the Cleveland Technical High School 217 

5. In the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York City 217 

G. In the Milwaukee School of Trades, and in the Cincinnati Con- 
tinuation School 217 

7. In the Apprentice Schools of the New York Central Lines 218 



xii REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

PAGE 

DiLWVING 218 

1. In the Apprentice Schools of the New York Central Lines 218 

2. In the High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Massachu- 

setts 218 

History 218 

1. History of Boot and Shoe Making in the High School, Brockton, 

Massachusetts 218 

2. History of Printing, Pre-apprentice School of Printing, Boston, 

Massachusetts 221 

3. In the Cooperative Course of the Lewis Institute, Chicago, Illinois 221 

4. Industrial History and Civics in the Continuation Schools of 

Munich, Germany 222 

Geography-history 224 

1. In the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School 224 

Science 227 

1. Industrial Chemistry in the High School, Menomonie, Wisconsin. 227 

2. Physics in the Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio 228 

Reference and Text Books 230 

III. Wages of Students from Trade and Technical Schools 231 



PART in 

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION IK CHICAGO AND IN 

OTHER CITIES 

CHAPTER IX. SUMMARY OF RESULTS. SCHOOLS IN OTHER 
CITIES 238 

Commercial Courses in Public High Schools of Chicago 239 

Private Commercial Schools in Chicago 240 

Commercial Courses in the Young Men's Christian Association of 

Chicago 242 

Summary of Conditions 243 

Remedies 244 

The Boston High School of Commerce 245 

The Cleveland High School of Commerce 247 

Commercial Courses in St. Louis High Schools 248 

Commercial Courses in Cincinnati High Schools 250 

CHAPTER X. SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL 
SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 

Extent of This Evil 251 

What the Solicitors Are Doing 252 

Statements Made by High-school Teachers 253 

Testimony from Pupils in the First Year of High School 253 

Testimony from Pupils in the Fourth Year of High School 255 

What the Proprietors Say 255 



TABLE OF COX TENTS xiii 

PAGE 

The Cost of Solicitation 256 

The Cost of Tuition 25G 

CHAPTER XL ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 258 

CHAPTER XII. VIEWS OF TEACHERS OF COMMERCIAL 
SUBJECTS IN CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOLS 26G 

CHAPTER XIII. REASONS GIVEN BY PUPILS FOR LEAVING 
SCHOOL 269 



PART IV 

EDUCATIONAL TESTS GIVEN TO BOYS WHO HAD 
LEFT SCHOOL FOR WORK 

CHAPTER XIV. PURPOSE, METHODS AND GENERAL RESULTS 

The Tests Used 272 

The Methods of Conducting the Tests ' 273 

The Difficulty of Securing Boys 273 

The Successful Lines of Approach 274 

Method of Grading 275 

Summary of Results 277 

CHAPTER XV. THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 278 

CHAPTER XVI. THE TEST IN ENGLISH 295 

Methods of Grading English 296 

The Results of the English Test 296 

CHAPTER XVII. THE TEST IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND 
HISTORY 299 

CHAPTER XVIII. PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS... 304 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL 

TRAINING 



PART I 
INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER I 
GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

A. GENERAL SUMMARY 

By 

GEORGE H. MEAD 

Chairman of the Sub-committee 



In Chicago, as in other cities in America, only a Httle over one- 
half of the children complete the elementary course. Forty-three per 
cent of those who enter the first grade do not reach the eighth grade 
at all, and 49 per cent do not complete the eighth grade [p. 29 ff]. 
Under what the school considers normal conditions children enter 
the first grade at the age of seven, the second at the age of eight, 
third at nine, fourth at ten, fifth at eleven, sixth at twelve, seventh 
at thirteen, and the eighth at fourteen. The State laws keep children 
in school up to the age of fourteen. Thus the normal child may not 
leave school until he has completed the eight grades of the elemen- 
tary school. We find expressed in the age of entrance coupled with 
yearly promotions, and in the State compulsory education law, the 
judgm.ent of educators and legislators that the normal child should 
complete the eight elementary grades before he leaves school. The 
school curriculum implies as much. By the end of the sixth grade 
children have become acquainted with the principal operations in 
arithmetic, and have been trained in the simple use of English. Dur- 
ing the seventh and eighth grades they are trained in the application 
of these principles of number and language and gain some hold upon 
American History, some knowledge of the city in which they live, 
besides a little elementary science. It has been generally maintained 
that unless the child completes this entire course he is unable to 
retain what he has acquired. Our investigator's report [p. 272 ff ] 
2 



2 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

is decisive upon this for the boys v/hom he was able to examine. 
These boys had dropped out of school at all grades from the fifth 
up. A number were twenty years old and more. Still a simple 
fifth grade examination in arithmetic and English revealed the fact 
that those who had left school before completing the eighth grade 
had lost most that they had learned in school, though the study of 
their papers showed that those who remained longer retained rela- 
tively more. Every added year in school meant a little more hold 
upon what had been once learned, but the whole elementary period 
was necessary to make even the work of earlier grades a permanent 
acquisition. 

In this study we have then evidence given by Chicago boys, who 
left school to go to work between the ages of fourteen and sixteen 
before completing the elementary school. This evidence from our 
own children confirms the accepted judgment of legislators and edu- 
cators that our schools can not give the minimum education for 
American citizenship in less than the eight grades. It is this con- 
clusion that gives serious meaning to elimination statistics. If 43 
per cent of our children never reach the eighth grade and 49 per 
cent never complete it, we must confess that nearly half our chil- 
dren fail to get the minimum education contemplated by our laws, 
and to a great degree, fail to hold on to what they do get in the 
schools, and that thus our school system operates at a serious dis- 
advantage, since a large part of its training of intelligence i.s 
inevitably lost. Consider these figures from the standpoint of effi- 
ciency of operation : of the 43 per cent of our school children who 
never reach the eighth grade, a fourth, or 11 per cent of all the chil- 
dren in the schools, do not reach even the sixth grade ; nearly one- 
third of these 43 per cent, or 16 per cent of all, drop out in the sixth, 
and another third in the seventh grade [p. 29 ff]. Just because we 
recognize the solidarity and articulation of our elementary school, 
we must recognize that these figures measure unquestioned vvaste 
in operation of the public school. They measure not alone the loss 
of vvhat the children might have learned had they remained in 
school, but the loss even of a great part of what they have learned ; 
in a word, the loss of that organic v/hole — an elementary school 
training. This conclusion brings us face to face with the statistics 
of " retardation " or more correctly " over-age " in the elementary 
school. Any child who enters the first grade after his eighth birth- 
day or who is not promoted a grade each year is termed a retarded 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3 

child. The term is ambiguous. Its implication in the minds of 
many is apt to be backwardness in intelligence or defect in character. 
This implication is not justified by the fact of late entrance nor 
always by failure in promotion. Many over-hasty generalizations 
have been drawn from retardation statistics. One conclusion is, 
however, beyond cavil. Any child who enters a year late or repeats 
a year — i. e. any over-age child — is free to leave school before 
he has completed the elementary curriculum. The principal purpose 
of the compulsory education statute is thwarted by over-age or 
retardation in our elementary schools. There are approximately 
70,000 retarded children in the Chicago elementary schools — or 
one-third of all the school children [p. 31]. There are nearly 
15 per cent over-age children in the first grade and the percentage 
increases steadily in the succeeding grades up to nearly 47 per cent 
in the fifth grade. It then falls off uniformly up to the end of the 
eighth grade. The explanation of the drop in the curve of retarda- 
tion is that large numbers of over-age children in the fifth and sixth 
grades have reached the age of fourteen, have obtained the age and 
school certificates, and have left school with no fear of the truant 
officer. Retardation makes for elimination and elimination spells 
defective education. 

Measures Vv^hich reduce retardation or over-age in the elementary 
schools must reduce elimination and must therefore bring the schools 
nearer to the goal of giving an effective common school education 
to all the children in the city. Certain recommendations made in 
this report have this reduction of the over-age percentage in the 
schools directly in view [p. 21]. On the other hand we can not 
expect to meet the loss involved in elimination by reducing the over- 
age percentage to zero. An inference, that can be safely drawn 
from the over-age of a third of the whole number of elementary 
school children, is that the two periods, the fourteen-year compul- 
sory education period, and the eight-grade period, do not actually 
correspond. The curriculum of the elementary school can not be 
covered in eight grades by a large proportion of our children. If, 
then, they are to complete their elementary schooling they must do 
this after they have passed the age of fourteen and out of the juris- 
diction of the truant officer. 

In a very real sense a boy or girl, especially a boy, over fourteen 
years of age does not fit into our elementary school curriculum as 
that curriculum is at present constructed, even with its manual 



4 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

training and household arts. No better evidence for this can be 
offered than the large numbers who leave school as soon as the 
fourteen years compulsory period is passed. This evidence comes 
of course not from Chicago alone. The investigations in Massachu- 
setts^ and St. Louis^ as well as in other communities, have revealed 
the same large percentage who leave school as soon as the fourteen- 
year period is reached. These investigations have shown conclu- 
sively that the prevailing reason for leaving school is not to be found 
in the financial need of the family of the fourteen-year old child. 
The child's own lack of interest in the school as well as that of his 
parents is the unquestioned reason for the largest part of the elimina- 
tion in our elementary schools. Other investigations have been so 
conclusive on this point that this committee has not felt that we 
needed to undertake a special study of the motives of Chicago chil- 
dren for dropping out of school as soon as the law permits, or those 
of their parents in allowing this elimination. 

Our elementary school curriculum undertakes more than can be 
accomplished by a large percentage of the children during the period 
of eight school years. The over-age of one-third of the children 
is convincing evidence that they can not complete this curriculum 
inside of the time during which the law keeps them in school ; and 
neither the interest of the child nor that of his parents keeps him 
there when the law has withdrawn its hand. 

It would be possible to meet this situation by restricting the cur- 
riculum, and increasing the school time. A curriculum shorter than 
that of the American elementary schools, and longer school sessions, 
are found in the elementary schools of Berlin, Germany. Still 
retardation and elimination seem to be as high there^ as in Chicago, 
and the situation in the Berlin schools is typical of that in the Ger- 

^ We have not overlooked the fact that Chicago's laboring class is predominately 
unskilled and consequently lives on the lowest wages, and that the family's demand for 
children's wages in certain localities of Chicago is much greater than it probably is in 
Massachusetts or in St. Louis. But even after taking these facts into account, we are con- 
vinced, in the first place, that the economic motive is not the determining motive of chil- 
dren who drop out of the elementary schools, and in the second place, that no community 
can afford to recognize an economic situation, in which families must depend upon the 
earnings of children in the period between fourteen and sixteen, as so legitimate, that 
this situation should determine its educational policy. No community can afford to permit 
the interests of child labor to interfere with or cut short the education it can give its 
children. 

2 See " The Results of Two Examinations of German Pupils," quoted in the report of 
the Commissioner of Education, 1907, Vol I, p. 175 ff., and a discussion upon these 
examinations in the German Reichstag, quoted in the report of the Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, 1909, Vol. I, p. 461 ff. For retardation and elimination, see Organisation ititd 
Unterrichtserfolge der Staatischen Volksschulen in Deutschland, Emil Schwartz, 1907, 
Berlin, p. 97 f f. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5 

man schools elsewhere. This is instructive, because the German 
Volkschule — or people's school — is in session some fifteen hundred 
hours during the year, while the yearly session of the American ele- 
mentary school is only about a thousand hours. Furthermore, there 
is no manual training nor, excepting needlework for the girls taken 
generally during the boy's gymnastic period, are there household 
arts in the curriculum of the German Volkschule, to which the 
American elementary school gives from two to three hours a week. 
Germany seeks to meet the incompleteness of her common school 
education by continuation classes for the boys who go from school 
to work. These continuation classes occupy only from five to ten 
hours a week, but they continue until the boy has reached the age 
of eighteen. It is probable that the number of children who drop 
out from the fifth grade and below in the German Volkschule is 
smaller than the corresponding number from the American school 
systems. It is also probable that the permanent acquirements of the 
eliminated children are greater than in the case of the American 
elimiinated child. Still, with greater rigor of administration, longer 
school sessions, and a more restricted curriculum Germany has not 
completely solved this problem. For, the administration of the con- 
tinuation school, the German manufacturers and merchants raise 
the same complaints against the unsatisfactory character of the com- 
mon school education of the German child which we hear in Chicago 
and elsewhere in Am^erica ; though the comparison of the results of 
the German examinations- with those presented in Part IV of this 
report indicates that the German complaints are by no means so fully 
justified as are those which have been made in Chicago. 

In the opinion of your committee, a discussion of the question 
of reducing the content of the curriculum of the American school 
or of increasing the school time while the content of the curriculum 
remains the same would have only academic interest. The influences 
which have forced continually new material into that curriculum are 
fundamental influences in our schools and in the community at large. 
They are as American as are our public schools. There is no reason 
to believe that the elementary school curriculum will be cut down 
and school time increased to such an extent that over-age will dis- 
appear and thus automatically eliminate elimination. Nor would it 
be reasonable to simply adopt the other half of the German program 
and to try to meet the ineffective education which follows upon elim- 
ination by continuation classes. Continuation classes will carry on 



6 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

the use of number and language when a minimum requirement has 
been reached. They will not supply the minimum requirement. The 
text books of German shop arithmetics contain simply problems in 
number work, taken from the trade in which the boy has been 
apprenticed. Their training in the mother tongue is continued by 
the writing of letters appropriate to the boy's trade and the use of 
German in making reports and estimates. In certain of the German 
continuation schools, notably those of Munich, some richer material 
than that just mentioned is introduced into the curriculum. In gen- 
eral, however, the work is neither fundamental enough to take the 
place of continuous schoolwork nor is the course rich enough in 
other subjects to provide the training which we have come to believe 
is essential to an American education. Continuation classes would 
not replace the training which only a little more than half of the 
pupils in our elementary schools are able to secure. If the child 
reaches the fifth, sixth or seventh grade at the age of fourteen other 
motives must be brought to bear upon him and his parents if he is 
to be kept in school. 

Again, it is the generally accepted judgment of educators that 
the boy and girl in the neighborhood of fourteen are so much inter- 
ested in the society into which they expect to enter and the occupa- 
tions of men and women in that society, that a school which does 
not appeal to the vocational motive is bound to lose the interest of a 
great number of these children. It is of course possible that the 
home atmosphere may be so favorable to continuation in school, 
and the parents may so influence their children that they will con- 
tinue to follow even an academic course of study, after they have 
reached the turning point of the adolescent period. But most of the 
parents and homes of the eliminated children are not interested in 
the continuation of the children in school. Very many accept the 
compulsory school period as the educational standard of the com- 
munity. This is not the only instance in which a permissive attitude 
of the law tends to become a community standard. It is also true 
that the majority of the parents of these children are mainly inter- 
ested in their children's occupations. The parents are as much sub- 
ject to the vocational motive as are their children. 

We are therefore confronted by this situation : an elementary 
school curriculum which only a half of our children follow to its 
conclusion, and yet the curriculum is such that those who drop out 
only imperfectly acquire what they have studied. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 7 

The retardation or over-age of our school children takes them 
teyond the age of compulsory school attendance, and children at this 
age, as well as the parents, are predominately interested in the jobs 
they can secure ; that is, they are interested in their vocations how- 
ever narrow their views of their vocations may be. 

The recommendation [p. 15] of your committee is that indus- 
trial, i. e., vocational work^ should be introduced into the seventh 
and eighth grades of the elementary school. 

We do not believe that the curriculum should be impoverished 
for a class of children who wish to go to work when they leave 
school. We heartily recommend [p. 24] continuation classes for 
those who have gone to work, but we do not believe that these 
classes can replace what the child loses by leaving the school before 
he has completed the v/hole elementary course. 

The first part of our recommendation is, therefore, a plan, 
worked out in some detail, of a type of school in which half of the 
time in the seventh and eighth grades may be given to vocational 
work, while during the other half of the school time we are confi- 
dent that as much can be accompHshed in the academic studies as 
is accomplished to-day. We recommend for these vocational grades 
a school day of six hours instead of the present five hours and a 
rearrangement of the time given to different subjects. From a 
study of vocational schools elsewhere in America, notably in Roches- 
ter [p. 170], Albany [p. 173], and New York City [p. 179], New 
York, in Fitchburg [p. 164], Newton [p. 177], and Boston [p. 166], 
Massachusetts, and in Menominee [p. 162], Wisconsin, we have con- 
vinced ourselves that vocational work, which is worth the while, can 
be done in the seventh and eighth grades by children who have reached 
the age of thirteen. The work done in these schools is not of a 
manual training character. It consists in actual trade processes 
and produces articles which have commercial value. The courses 
do not attempt in the nature of the case to make mechanics or 
artisans of the children. The training is of a preparatory trade 
character. It will unquestionably assist the child in his later trade 
training. It will also help him to select the trade for which he is 

3 Vocational work is done as far as possible under the conditions of the occupation 
outside the school. Its products, so far as possible, are commercial products, and its 
processes commercial or trade processes. Vocational work in the elementary school can 
not be trade training in the accepted use of this term, because the children have not yet 
reached sufficient maturity for the trade school. Vocational work in the elementary school 
is preparatory trade training, and as such is different in principle from manual training 
[p. 28]. 



8 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

adapted. It is our belief that it will hold the child in school who at 
present finds nothing there that interests him, and will quicken the 
interest of his parents in his further training. It will hold him in 
school so that he can permanently acquire what the elementary 
school should give to every American child, and what it can not give 
him if he drops out before he has completed all of the grades. 

We recognize that such an innovation must be worked out care- 
fully and with selected teachers. We recommend therefore the 
establishment of not more than three of these schools at first, and 
lay stress upon the need of well-equipped shops and enthusiastic 
teachers for these experimental stations. Such schools could pass 
on its pupils to either the academic or technical high school [p. 19], 
but it is evident that there should be also trade schools for boys 
who have reached the age of sixteen. Such schools, similar to the 
trade schools in the Milwaukee school system, should be established 
within two years at least after these vocational schools have been 
instituted [p. 23]. 

In the meantime there are children below the seventh grade who 
have reached the age of twelve and thirteen and who need the 
appeal of the vocational motive. For these children rooms or 
schools — one perhaps for each of the three sides of the city — 
should be established [p. 21]. We have one that approaches what 
we recommend in the Farragut school in Chicago [p. 104]. The 
school for retarded children in Cleveland [p. 168] shows what such 
training can accomplish. We insist, however, that children in such 
rooms must have a very large decree of individual attention, and 
that the aim of the training should be to return them to the grades 
so that they may complete their elementary school training. 

We have recommended changes in our technical high schools 
which will increase their capacity by one-third [p. 25], which will 
enable them to give a more advanced form of trade training as well 
as that which leads up to the technical colleges [p. 25]. We have 
recommended the introduction of technical training for girls [p. 27] 
into the boys' technical high schools such as is being undertaken in 
the Lucy Flower Technical High School for girls. 

In the plan which has been outlined, the over-age pupil will be 
met by vocational work and individual attention below the seventh 
grade in the schools or rooms for retarded pupils. If the over-age 
boy or girl has reached the seventh grade he can enter one of the 
vocational schools, where he will find preparatory trade training that 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 9 

will appeal directly to his interest in the work of the outside world 
and yet he will complete his seventh and eighth grade. When he 
has completed these, the system will open to him the doors either 
of the academic high school, the technical high school, or the trade 
school, for this boy will by this time probably have reached the age 
of sixteen. If he has graduated from the elementary school at the 
age of fourteen or fifteen, before he can profitably enter the trade 
school proper, and yet wishes to prepare for the trade school, we 
have recommended [p. 26] that he be provided with elementary 
trade training in the first and possible second year of the technical 
high school. 

Our great contention is that vocational training be introduced 
into our school system as an essential part of its education — in no 
illiberal sense and with no intention of separating out a class of 
workingmen's children who are to receive trade training at the 
expense of academic training. We are convinced by what we have 
found elsewhere in America, as well as in other countries, that such 
a division is unnecessary. We are convinced that just as liberal a 
training can be given in the vocational school as that given in the 
present academic school. Indeed, we feel that the vocational train- 
ing will be more liberal if its full educational possibilities are worked 
out. 

We have attempted to indicate in detail how the vocational 
motive may be introduced, basing our suggestions upon actual expe- 
riences and results. We have attempted to find a place for the voca- 
tional motive at the points at which the actual condition in the 
Chicago schools shows the need, and we have indicated how such 
vocational training introduced into the elementary school can be 
carried on in the secondary period. 

Finally we have taken into account the economic loss to children 
and their parents if they remain in school after the age of fourteen 
and are thus deprived of the opportunity of earning. We find 
that the boys who leave school to go to work between the ages of 
fourteen and sixteen are idle half of the time, and earn during these 
two years not more than an average of $2 a week [pp. 34, 37]. We 
find that they are not needed in the industries of Chicago [p. 35] 
and that the return which they bring in to their homes is negligible. 
We find further [p. 46], that which all students of children out of 
school during these years have found, that they gain no training 
that is of value for them in later years. On the contrary their idle- 



10 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

ness during at least half the time, their frequent passing from one 
job to another, their lack of any responsibility, necessarily leads to 
moral, mental, and frequently physical degeneration. During two 
of the most valuable years for preparation for life they are going 
backward instead of forward. 

On the other hand we find that Chicago industries are in need 
of trained operatives and mechanics, which Chicago does not pro- 
vide [p. 42 ff]. From nearly all industries comes the demand for 
more skilled and responsible workmen. From the trade unions 
comes the demand for vocational and trade training for their chil- 
dren, if it can be given within the public school system [p. 74 ff]. 

In the meantime the part-time training in school and shop, such 
as that already in operation in Lewis Institute [p. 137] should be 
pushed as far and as rapidly as possible, and we must make use of 
the other types of continuation schools which have been so valuable 
to Germany's industries [p. 24], though it would be most short- 
sighted to expect to accomplish what we must accomplish with the 
continuation school alone. 

We have recommended the introduction of commercial courses 
as vocational courses in the elem.entary schools in the seventh and 
eighth grades [p. 21], and following upon the example of Boston 
and Cleveland we have recommended the establishment of a commer- 
cial high school [p. 27]. Such commercial high schools bear the 
same relationship to the preparation for commercial occupations 
that the technical high schools and trade schools bear to the mechan- 
ical occupations. The striking and admirable results attained in 
Boston and Cleveland leave no doubt, in the minds of those who have 
studied them, of their value both to the community and to the school 
system [p. 245 ff]. We have recommended further that the commer- 
cial training which must still be given in other high schools should 
be brought more closely under the control of commercial standards 
and processes than it is to-day [p. 27]. There is evidence of the 
unsatisfactory commercial training given in our private commercial 
colleges and the vast sums which are paid for it by Chicago every 
year [p. 258 ff. and p. 256]. 

We find finally that an adequate school system such as we have 
endeavored to outline will leave no justification for the absence from 
school of our children between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. 
The children lose morally, mentally and physically by this prema- 
ture entrance into industry. The industries have no legitimate need 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 11 

for them. They bring in an insignificant return to their parents and 
they have gained no training for later occupations. We recommend 
therefore that when Chicago has introduced into her school system 
vocational training appropriate to the fourteen to sixteen year period, 
she should demand compulsory attendance upon school between the 
ages of seven and sixteen [p. 25], though we have called attention 
to the Ohio law which more modestly requires that the children 
must attend continuation classes during the fourteen to sixteen 
year period, leaving, however, this requirement to the option of the 
communities [p. 130]. 

While we have felt that we should make our recommendations 
as detailed as possible, we have undertaken to suggest nothing that 
involves revolutionary procedure. We have asked for experimental 
stations where the method of introducing vocational training into 
the schools can be worked out carefully under the most favorable 
conditions. 

In conclusion we again insist that vocational and trade training 
must appear in the American public school as an essential part of 
that unique institution. Nothing of the meaning of our own public 
school system must be lost, nor can we hope to solve this complex 
and difficult problem by simply copying methods from other com- 
munities, not even those of Germany. W^e make these recommenda- 
tions with more confidence because they seem to us to be in harmony 
with the present policy of the Board of Education of Chicago, and 
of its Superintendent of Schools, Mrs. Ella Flagg Young. Evidence 
for this is found in the installation of the Lucy Flower Technical 
High School for girls ; the enlarged and improved course of study 
for the Apprentice Schools ; the increase of vocational work in the 
technical high schools for boys, and the encouragement of part time 
v/ork in the last year of these courses ; the increase of vocational 
work in the night schools ; the two-year vocational courses offered 
in all the high schools ; the industrial course for retarded children 
in the Farragut school ; and the plan printed in the last '' Course 
of Study " for industrial courses in the sixth, seventh and eighth 
grades. The movement in the school system itself is toward voca- 
tional work. We have endeavored to indicate where and how 
vocational work should in our opinion appear as a constituent part 
of the curriculum, providing not only a considerable portion of its 
content, but also a method of training and a point of view from 
which to interpret life. 



12 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



B. RECOMMENDATIONS 

By 

The Sub-committee 



In the recommendations which follow, the attempt is made to 
present a fairly complete outline of provisions which should be made 
in the public schools to meet in an initial way the need for voca- 
tional training in the city. The various types of courses recom- 
mended are intended to meet this need not only for pupils who 
continue in school for the full twelve grades, but also for those who 
are likely to leave school at various points before completing the 
course. 

Individuals may be classified into the following five groups with 
respect to their need for vocational courses in the schools : 

(1) Those who leave school in various grades below the high 
school ; 

(3) Those who enter the high school but do not finish the course ; 

(3) Those who complete the high school course but do not enter 
college ; 

(4) Those vv^ho finish the high school and enter college; 

(5) Those who are already at work in the industries. 

It is especially important to provide for those who leave school 
at fourteen years of age (mainly in group (1), above) by giving 
them the opportunity to take vocational courses one or two years 
before reaching that age, no matter what grade they are in. The 
schools of types 1, 2, and 3, below, are intended for such pupils, 
type 2 primarily for over-age pupils. By appealing in this way to 
the vocational motive of pupils before they are old enough to leave 
school it is hoped that they may be aroused to an appreciation of 
the value of further school training after the compulsory attendance 
period. These schools may help materially in retaining pupils in 
school at the point where the greatest and most serious elimination 
now occurs. Such schools can also do much to help solve the prob- 
lem of a suitable training for the unskilled worker, for they will 
take the pupil before he enters the industries and should give him 
a preliminary training in skill which will serve as capital for his 
future work, and they should develop a degree of industrial intelli- 
gence and adaptability which will enable the worker to rise from 
unskilled or only slightly skilled occupations to positions requiring 
skill and intelligence. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 13 

Pupils below the high school (group (1) above) who are sixteen 
years of age (or fourteen years, for girls) may enter the trade 
schools proper (types 4 and 5, below), provided they have com- 
pleted grade six. For the boy who completes grade eight at four- 
teen or fifteen years of age, and who wants to enter the trade school, 
provision is made by offering special work in the first year or two 
of the technical high school (see type 10 below) preparatory to the 
work in the trade school. 

For pupils who take a complete high-school course, but who do 
not enter college (group (3) above), provision is made in the recom- 
mendation for a four-year and for a six-year finishing course, with 
specialization in the latter part of the course, preparing definitely 
for vocations (type 10, below). A suitable degree of flexibility in 
this course, together with the two-year vocational courses now 
offered, will provide also for those high-school pupils who leave 
school before finishing the course (group (2), above). 

For pupils of group (4), those who go on through high school 
and into college, provision has long been made in the regular course 
of study. Additional provision has recently been made in the two- 
year college technical course. 

For persons already at work in the industries (group (5), above) 
provision is made in the recommendation for continuation schools 
(items 6, 7, and 8, below). 

The diagram facing page 14 shows in schematic form the articu- 
lation of the proposed schools and courses with present schools. 

For the schools recommended in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 13, below, it is 
strongly urged that a separate or independent organization be pro- 
vided, with a principal and staff of teachers specially fitted for, and 
giving their attention exclusively to, this work. This is necessary 
in order to give these schools the distinctive aim and purpose which 
they should have, and it is of very great importance in the present 
experimental stage of vocational training, when a content and a 
method for these courses are still to be developed. Not all teachers 
have the special training and ability needed for this pioneer work; 
not all are yet in full sympathy with vocational training. This lack 
of sympathy on the part of many teachers and principals is well 
brought out in a recent report of the Superintendent of Chicago 
Schools^, and should emphasize the importance of the independent 
organization here recommended. It is of the utmost importance 

3 June 30, 1911, p. 7. 



14 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

that vocational courses should preserve their integrity, that they 
should be really vocational if they pretend to be. The independent 
organization, established in certain centers of the city, and having 
a select staff of teachers, could render valuable service in working 
out a content and method for similar courses to be established later, 
or simultaneously, in the regular schools in other parts of the city. 
When vocational training is once thoroughly established, with a 
definite content and method, it should not be impossible to weld 
together the various parts of the school system so as to preserve a 
proper social balance. 

The shopwork in the industrial courses recommended should 
have the character of actual trade work, approximating as closely 
as possible the best conditions prevailing in the industries themselves. 
This may be done, as it is at present done in many industrial schools*, 
by the making of equipment, apparatus and other articles of a dis- 
tinctly commercial standard actually needed and put to use in the 
schools or elsewhere. Shopwork of this character, as over against 
the more or less dilettante and abstract work of the usual manual 
training course, gives a definite vocational trend to the industrial 
courses and thus presents added stimuli to work on the part of the 
pupils. 

The so-called Chicago course at present given in the eighth grade 
is an example of the richer and more educative kind of academic 
subject matter which can be introduced not only into the eighth but 
also into the seventh grade in our schools. The children, by the time 
they have reached the seventh grade, are able to appreciate in some 
degree the relation of what they are learning to the life and occupa- 
tions of the community. This is an opportunity of which the fullest 
use should be made not only for intellectual, but also for moral edu- 
cation. Vocational training has the great advantage of presenting 
points of contact between the studies and occupations in the school 
and the life of the community. By using these the mathematics and 
elementary science on the one hand and the geography and history on 
the other can be lifted out of mere text-book studies and become 
interpretations of the activities and social life of the community. 
It is the opinion of the committee therefore that while some time 
can be saved by bringing science and mathematics together, and his- 
tory and geography together, the curriculum of the vocational courses 
can give a more thorough intellectual and moral training than the 

* See p. 161 ff. 



-DiA6f^AN 5howin6 Articulatiom or Pf^oposcp (Schools ahp Cour<5e:5 with DiarinG <5chool5 amd with OccuPATions- 



I ! E ' 1 ' E ! r ' i: 




Industnol school 

for 
over-Q^e children 

E.nttr or l2ycQrj 



VocofijohQ 1/^^^ 
schlool 



Enter 

1 

13 yeiprs 




r Indwsfi-iol Ctnd 
■^ Commercial jDursuits 



IColleqcs 
' Mornnc(.l>Schools 
[<Supc.rror joosiMonS in 
[ industry and commerce 



1_. 



1 5*0 1" 16, years 
Girls enter- 

ct! 

ItorlJlyeori 



J 



Aoorenficeshio 
in fikilled trades 



Top 
persons 

at 
vVork 




L. 



Day cjontinw lotion cjlosses 
L 



ay c|ontini/<|oTion dlosses 
Entjer of |)1-yff|Qi-s 



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^ 


other tjrodes 
1 oa 


mitfed 



//i-^Obli«^we- lined areas indicofe ichoofs 
^ and courses now esfcibiished 



f A pprtnf ice-s nip 

n in skilled fraclzf 

>IlndusfriQl pwrsuifs 

>|lnclustricil , puriwif^ and 

ICommerciol pur suits 

^Indusiricil and ,, 

(,commercicil pwr^uiti 

^Skilled ^radts 

?4lndujtriQl pursuifs 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 

curricula of courses which lack this immediate connection with the 
life of the city. 

As a result of its study of conditions in Chicago and in tw^enty- 
seven other cities, the committee respectfully recommends that the 
follow^ing provisions be made for vocational training in the public 
schools of the city. 

1. Tw^o-year Elementary Vocational Schools 

Establish a two-year vocational school admitting boys and girls 
at thirteen years of age who have had the equivalent of a six-grade 
training. At least half of the time should be devoted to hand- 
work, including drawing, in the elementary phases of some of 
the trades listed below. The remaining time should be devoted to 
academic subjects intimately related to the work of the trades. The 
school day should be at least six hours (60 minutes each). 

Graduates of this school should be admitted to the trade schools 
proper (4 and 5, below) and to all courses in the high school. 

Pupils with an academic status below that of the sixth grade 
should also be admitted to this school for special work, at the dis- 
cretion of the principal. Such special students would not ordinarily 
be eligible for admission to high-school courses after two years in 
the vocational school. 

The trades furnishing appropriate shop work for the vocational 
school may be classified in the following groups : 

For Boys 

1. Building trades 

Carpentry, plumbing, steam and gas fitting, sheet metal, electrical 
construction, bricklaying, tile setting, concrete work, painting (house, 
sign, and fresco), paper hanging, architectural drafting 

2. Machine trades 

Pattern making, foundry work, forge work, bench and vise work, 
machine practice, machine drafting 

3. Furniture trades 

Cabinet making, finishing, upholstering 

4. Printing trades 

Typesetting, bookbinding, engraving, lithography 

5. General wood and metal work 

Joinery, turning, cabinet making, pattern making, foundry work, 
forge work, bench and vise work, machine practice 



16 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

For Girls 

6. Bookbinding, engraving, photography, dressmaking, millinery, garment 
making, embroidery, laundering, cooking, institutional and lunch- 
room management 

Homemaking: cooking, sewing, house sanitation and manage- 
ment, dietetics, care of infants and invalids, house decorating and 
fitting, household accounts 

Specialization in a particular trade for the entire two years should 
not be permitted. All pupils should be required to work in several 
related trades in one or more of the above trade groups. Group 5 
is intended especially for boys who have not decided upon the par- 
ticular trade they wish ultimately to follow. Since girls must be 
prepared for their function of homemakers as well as for work in a 
particular trade, it is important that all girls be recjuired to take 
work in homemaking in addition to the trade work selected. 

In order to maintain a proper standard of shopwork, and to 
approximate as closely as possible the best conditions in actual trade 
work, the products made in the shop should, whenever possible, be 
those which are actually needed and put to use in the schools or else- 
where. The kind of work here referred to is shown by the following 
lists of products made in certain industrial schools by students of 
essentially the same stage of advancement as those for whom the 
vocational school is intended. 

Wood-working 

Work benches, looms, and saw-horses constructed. Assisted in mak- 
ing kitchen tables. Making teachers' desks for entire building. Building 
partitions and 300 lockers [p. 165]^ 

25 large drawing boards 12 umbrella racks 

100 primary looms 50 book cases, 2 designs, at $10 

25 pillow looms, with heddles 120 desk chairs 

100 drawing kits 20 sanitary teachers' desks 

25 sawhorses 12 music cabinets 

50 sewing boxes [p. 172] 

36 manual training benches 

Three houses were built, in miniature. The smallest, three feet by 
five feet, is a two-story braced frame with no inside partitions. The mid- 
dle house, six by eight, is a two-story balloon frame, with staircase and 
closet on the first floor. The largest, eight feet by fifteen feet, is a three- 
room bungalow, with full head room, with a chimney and fireplace put 
up by the bricklaying class, and with plumbing fixtures for the kitchen 

" The page citations refer to the descriptions of schools in Chapter VII, from which 
the lists of products are taken. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 17 

and bath installed by the plumbing class. The large house is to be 
shingled and clapboarded, upper floors are to be laid, two of the rooms 
sheathed, and one of them plastered [p. 163] 

Building partitions in cellar, teachers' lockers, supply cupboards, 
porch, storm house; laying floors, moving of portable school building 
[p. 173] 
Painting and finishing 

Steam pipes bronzed to match color of the walls. Floors oiled. 
Chairs for building bought in the white, finished and seated by pupils. 
Kitchen, dining-room, wood-working room, locker-rooms painted. Work 
benches and teachers' desks finished. Library room painted and papered 
[p. 165] 
Bricklaying 

All the brickwork for a small annex to one of the school buildings 
done by pupils [p. 164] 
Plumbing 

Installation of school kitchen and chemical laboratory fixtures, includ- 
ing the setting up of individual gas stoves, sinks with necessary connec- 
tions, an instantaneous hot-water heater for the kitchen, and several 
lead-lined sinks for the laboratory. Structural and rail work with iron 
piping [p. 164] 

Repairing closet tank, automatic tilting tank, broken water pipes, leak 
in flush pipe, sanitary drinking fountain, basin cocks ; connecting gas 
plate, installing basin bowl, removing stoppage in basin waste [p. 173] 
Electrical work 

Repairing lights, telephone, fire gongs, motor; installing 5 H-P. 
motor, and stereopticon lantern [p. 173] 
Machine shop 

100 drill bases planed 
1,700 drill blanks turned 

cutting several hundred gears 
300 bronze bushings 

120 binder pulley shafts turned and ground 
100 reverse clutches, bored and turned 
50 to 75 lathe tool posts complete 

several hundred grinder spindles complete 
25 sets change gears, 12-inch lathes, complete 
12 11-inch engine lathes complete 
120 heavy forged screws 
[p. 185] 

Carpentry, plumbing, machine shop 

All the carpenter work and plumbing required in the remodeling of a 
factory building purchased for the use of the school has been done by 
students. The repairing, overhauling, and reinstalling of the machine- 
shop equipment, partially destroyed by a recent fire, has also been done 
by students. For this work students were paid by the school at a rate 
per hour determined by their proficiency [p. 182] 
3 



18 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Work done by girls 

The girls prepare, serve, and manage the finances of the noonday 
lunch for the school, which is furnished to the students at cost. Pies^ 
bread, etc., are also made by the girls and sold to private families. In 
the sewing work uniforms are made for the cooking class, overalls for 
the boys of the shop, curtains and various linen articles for the dining 
room, bedroom, etc., and a number of flags for the city school [p. 173] 
Binding of 1,000 small notebooks, 100 teachers' manuals, and rcbind- 
ing of 500 dilapidated books from neighboring school libraries [p. 182] 

The weekly time schedule recommended for the vocational school 
is shown in Table 1, below, wdth the corresponding schedule for 
grade 7 of the regular course of study. 



Table 1. 
Vocational School 



Time Schedules 

Regular Course of Study® 
Grade Seven 



Subject ^ 


No. of 

minutes per 

week 


Subject 


No. of 

minutes per 

week 




900 


Industrial arts 


180 


Shop work and drawing. . . . 






Art 


90 


Shop science and shop mathe- 
matics 


150 


Nature study 60 


Mathematics 


150 








Industrial geography-history 


150 
300 

300 


History and civics 


758 




Geography 


759 








English, penmanship 


English 


300 






General use, recesses, physi- 
cal education, opening ex- 
ercises, study, music 


General use, recesses, phy- 
sical education, opening 
exercises, study 


405 




1,800 


Music 90 

1 




Penmanship i 75 


Total 


Total 


1,500 



It is recommended that all the academic subjects in the voca- 
tional school be related intimately to industrial needs and conditions, 
taking their points of departure, where possible, from the trades 

' From the Course of Study for Elementary Schools, 1911. 

' The subjects to be taken by the boys are given in the table. The corresponding sub- 
jects for girls should receive the same time allotment. 

^ One hundred and fifty minutes a week during second half-year (semester). 
^ One hundred and fifty minutes a week during first half-year (semester). 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



19 



represented in the school. The science and mathematics should be 
treated largely as one subject, but not exclusively so. The geogra- 
phy-history and civics should be similarly treated and should include 
much of what is now offered in the '* Chicago course." Specific 
illustrations of the kind of subject matter here referred to are fur- 
nished by the outlines, on pages 215-231 of this report, of academic 
subjects given in certain industrial courses. 

The time available for the academic subjects in the vocational 
school (Table 2, below) is 135 minutes less than in the regular grade 

Table 2 





In 

vocational 
school 


In 
regular 
grade 7 


In 
elementary 

industrial 
course 11 


No. of minutes per week available 
for the regular academic subjects . 


600 


7351° 


560 



7, but 40 minutes more than that in the elementary industrial course 
recently provided. It is the opinion of the committee that if the 
academic subjects are organized and presented as indicated above a 
much more valuable type of training will result than that which is 
obtained from the academic subjects as usually presented in the regu- 
lar grades 7 and 8, and that graduates of the vocational school would 
be qualified, on the academic side, to do the work of the high school 
at least as well as graduates of the regular elementary course of 
study. In Albany, New York, graduates of the vocational school are 
admitted to all courses in the high school [p. 174]. In Newton, 
Massachusetts, graduates of the vocational school are admitted to 
the technical courses in the high school [p. 178]. 

The committee believes that a school of this type, in which the 
vocational impulse of pupils is allowed opportunity for expression 
under expert direction, would aid boys and girls to '' find " them- 
selves. Those pupils who had decided on a particular vocation 
might here begin to prepare for it and those without definite aim 
might take a general course, made from the elements of several 
vocations, for the purpose of gaining a broad outlook that would 
make easier an intelligent choice in the future. Probably many 
pupils would thereby discover that they were not fitted for any of 
the vocations offered, a knowledge that might prevent anguish of 
soul and loss of time and energy in the future. For the pupil who 

" Not including the time allotted to music. 
" See p. 108. 



20 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

discovers that his interests or talents do not lie in any of the voca- 
tions offered, this course makes easy the transition to business or 
profession. 

The seriousness of this type of school should not be overlooked 
by the educator. A merely intensified form of manual training will 
not serve the purposes of the pupils nor of the industrial world. 
For the purposes of conventional culture the usual type of manual 
training serves fairly well ; but it must not be forgotten that a voca- 
tional school is primarily for the purpose of enabling pupils to 
select and acquire a vocation. If pupils are allowed to dawdle and 
play with industrial elements they will gain false ideas of industry 
that will justify the criticism so often made that the schools fail to 
teach economy of time and effort. True, no school can give the 
powerful incentive to good industrial work that is forced on the 
business world by economic stress, but some knowledge of the value 
of time and well directed energy should be one of the important 
aims of the vocational school. A dilettante system of manual train- 
ing with culture as its only aim will defeat the purpose of this school ; 
but if the elementary processes of industry are shown in their rela- 
tions to mathematics, language, history and science, pupils will feel 
a joy in work that comes from strength and skill and breadth of 
knowledge. Is not the belief justified that such a course would tend 
to prolong the school life of many boys and girls who would other- 
wise go into industry at fourteen ? 

Objections will be made that we are advocating specialization at 
too early an age. A study of statistics shows, however, that for a 
large percentage of children fate decrees specialization without 
preparation, at the end of the compulsory school term. This recom- 
mendation would substitute the specialization of school for the 
specialization of industry. Until the compulsory school age is raised 
what else can be done to keep pupils in school? And when the age 
limit is raised will it not still be necessary to give this type of educa- 
tion to the many who are not interested in the traditional academic 
training? Every attempt to introduce vocational training in this 
country impels the advocates of culture to protest. Unfortunately 
they do not show how the schools can give culture to pupils who 
refuse to attend. The experience of other American cities proves 
that a specialization that avoids " blind alleys " in education is not 
only feasible but highly successful. In Germany, according to 
Kerschensteiner (''Three Lectures on Vocational Training," p. 15), 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 21 

" as a rule both boys and girls are ready to enter a calling at the 
close of their fourteenth year. From an educational point of view 
it is desirable to make fourteen the age for commencing, for there 
can be no doubt that working at a trade is or might be an essential 
factor in the formation of character." If Germany is satisfied to 
begin regular trade apprenticeship at fourteen it would seem that 
the less highly specialized form of education proposed by the com- 
mittee might safely be tried at thirteen, especially as a change of 
purpose is allowed for by the flexibility of the course. It is impor- 
tant that pupils be allowed to take this course before the end of the 
compulsory period so that their school interests may be strengthened 
sufficiently to withstand the allurements of immediate wages. 

2. Elementary Industrial Schools for Over-age Children Below 

Grade Seven 

In at least three centers of the city, establish an ungraded indus- 
trial school for boys and girls in grades below the seventh who are at 
least twelve years of age and who have lost interest and fallen 
behind in the regular grade work. At least half of the time should 
be given to such handwork and drawing as will appeal to the voca- 
tional motive and interest of the pupils. The academic subjects 
should be adapted to the previous attainments of the pupils and 
should be closely related to the handwork and to industrial needs. 
The school should aim to develop the pupils on the academic side, 
largely by individual work, so that they may in time return to regu- 
lar v/ork in the grades. Thirty hours (60 minutes each) a week. 

The shopwork should include the elementary phases of some of 
the trades listed under type 1, above [p. 15]. In addition, general 
repair work and the making of equipment and apparatus in large 
quantities for use in the schools should be introduced. Examples 
of such shopwork may be found in the detailed description of 
schools in Chapter VII, especially pages 162-170. 

3. Optional Industrial and Commercial Courses in Grades 

Seven and Eight 

In at least three centers of the city, offer a dift'erentiated curricu- 
lum in grades 7 and 8, open to pupils who have finished grade 6, and 
including the following three courses of study^^ : 

^ A good example of such a curriculum is found in the Fitchburg grammar school 
[see p. 1641. A fourth course similar to the Literary Course in the Fitchburg grammar 
school might well be offered in each of these centers. In this course one-sixth of the time 
should be given to a modern foreign language, one-sixth to shopwork and drawing for 
boys and household arts for girls, and the remaining time to academic studies similar in 
the main to those in courses (1) and (2). Thirty hours (GO minutes each) a week. 



22 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



(1) An industrial course giving one-third of the time to 
shop work and drawing for boys, and household arts and design 
for girls, the remainder of the time being devoted to related 
academic studies. Thirty hours (60 minutes each) a week. 

(2) A commercial course giving one-third of the time to 
bookkeeping, business forms and methods, business arithmetic, 
typewriting, and handwork, and the remainder of the time to 
related academic studies. Thirty hours (60 minutes each) a 
week. 

(3) The present course of study regularly provided for 
grades 7 and 8. Twenty-five hours (60 minutes each) a week. 

Graduates of any one of the above three courses should be 
admitted to any course in the high school. 

The weekly time schedule recommended for course (1)^^ is 
shown in Table 3, below, with the corresponding schedule for the 
elementary industrial course recently authorized for Chicago schools. 
The latter course is outlined in the Course of Study, adopted June 
29, 1910, but it is not yet actually given in any of the schools. 

Table 3. Weekly Time Schedules 
Elementary Industrial Course Elementary Industrial Course 

(proposed) (recently authorized) 



Subject i< 


No. of 

minutes per 

week 


Subject 


No. of 

minutes per 
week 


Shop work and drawing 


600 


Art and industrial arts .... 


615^5 


Applied science, applied 


150 


Nature study 


60^5 








English, history and civ- 
ics, mathematics, geog- 
raphy, Chicago course 
(special), penmanship . . 




Industrial geography-h i s - 
tory and civics, Chicago 
course 


180 


500 






English 


300 








Penmanship 


75 








Physical education, study, 
general use, recesses 


405 


Physical education, music, 
study, general use, re- 


325 


Music 


90 










Total 


1,800 


Total 


1,500 



^3 A similar time schedule is recommended for course (2). 

" The subjects to be taken by the boys are given in the table. The corresponding 
subjects for the girls should receive the same time allotment. 

^^ For purposes of comparison the time assumed to be allotted to nature study is taken 
from the industrial arts period and is scheduled separately. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 23 

Course (1), above, is recommended to take the place of the ele- 
mentary industrial course recently authorized for grades 6, 7, and 8. 
The two courses differ in the following three respects: (a) course 
(1) is not recommended for grade 0; (b) five hours more per week 
are recommended in course (1), making it possible to give more 
time to the academic subjects ; (c) a more practical kind of shop- 
work is recommended for course (1). 

The committee's reasons for not recommending course (1) for 
grade 6 are based on two principles fairly well settled in current 
practice in such courses : in the first place, such courses are not in 
general offered to pupils below twelve years of age, and in the second 
place, the completion of the sixth grade is commonly accepted as 
a standard, on the academic side, for admission to such courses. 
Retarded pupils who are twelve years of age in grade 6 or below are 
provided for in the committee's recommendations in type 2, above. 
It is unnecessary and unwise, in the opinion of the committee, to 
give so little time to academic subjects as is scheduled in the elemen- 
tary industrial course recently authorized for Chicago schools. With 
the time allotted to handwork, the school week can readily be 
lengthened by five hours without bringing undue fatigue upon pupils, 
thus providing more time for academic subjects. The shopwork 
for course (1) should include the elementary phases of some of the 
trades listed under type 1, above [p. 15]. In addition, general 
repair work and the making of equipment and apparatus in large 
quantities for use in the schools should be introduced. Examples 
of such shopwork may be found in the detailed descriptions of 
schools in Chapter VII, especially pages 162-170.^® 

The academic subjects in courses (1) and (2) should be closely 
related to industrial and commercial needs and conditions in the 
manner indicated in the recommendations for the academic subjects 
under type 1, above [p. 18]. 

4. Trade School for Boys 

Within the next two years establish a trade school for boys, 
admitting those who have been graduated from the vocational school, 
and others who have reached the age of sixteen with an academic 
training equivalent to that of the sixth grade. This school should 
provide for specialization, for at least two years, in some one of a 

^® A fuller discussion of the questions involved in this paragraph is given on pp. 
109-111. 



24 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

number of trades, giving at least two-thirds of the time to shopwork 
and drawing in the trade selected, and the remaining time to very 
closely related academic subjects. The school year should be eleven 
months, and the school day at least seven hours. 

5. Trade School for Girls 
Establish a trade school for girls, admitting those who have 
been graduated from the vocational school, and others who have 
reached the age of fourteen with an academic training equivalent to 
that of the sixth grade. Specialization in a particular trade should 
be offered, about two-thirds of the time being devoted to handwork. 
Further investigation of local industrial needs is necessary to deter- 
mine the trades to be taught. 

6. Apprentice Schools 

Investigate the feasibility of establishing apprentice schools for 
trades other than carpentry. 

7. State Legislation for Day Continuation Schools 

Endeavor to procure the enactment of a law, similar to the 
Ohio law, permitting local school authorities to require attendance 
in day continuation schools of working boys and girls between the 
ages of fourteen and eighteen, or at least fourteen and sixteen, for 
at least six hours a week. 

8. Cooperation with Employers to Secure Day Continuation 

Schools 

Endeavor to secure for the present the voluntary cooperation 
of employers in the establishment of day continuation schools in 
commercial and industrial subjects, for the years fourteen to eight- 
een. The work in these schools should be of the same general 
character as that in the continuation schools of Munich, Germany 
[see pages 119 ff. and 20^ ff.], and in the recently revised curricu- 
lum of the Chicago apprentice school [see p. 112 ff.]. 

The following suggestions may be drawn from the experience 
of other cities with the voluntary cooperation of employers in day 
continuation schools [see p. 128 ff.]. 

(a) The alternate week plan of cooperation is most likely to 
succeed on the high-school level, and in connection with school 
instruction distinctly technical in character, preparing for positions 
of responsibility above that of the actual mechanic. 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 25 

(b) The experience of Cincinnati and Boston [see p. 200 ff.] 
shows that large numbers of employers are willing to give from 
four to fifteen hours a week to their employees, on full pay, for day 
continuation instruction very definitely related to the daily work. 

(c) Most of the successful efforts at cooperation have been 
made through associations of employers and workmen, and have 
been accompanied by the appointment of advisory committees of 
employers and unions to secure their continued interest and their 
criticism and advice on the work of the schools. 

(d) Provision should be made for some kind of supervision 
by the school of the work of the students while in the factory. 
Tliere are two reasons why this should be done : first, to enable the 
school to relate its instruction as closely as possible to industrial 
needs and conditions ; second, to afford some protection to the stu- 
dent against possible exploitation by the employer, to see that the 
student advances on the shop side of his training as rapidly as his 
ability permits. 

9. Legislation to Raise the Compulsory Age Limit 

After vocational training is provided for the years fourteen to 
sixteen, endeavor to procure legislation to raise the compulsory age 
limit to sixteen years. The statistics on the *' wasted years " from 
fourteen to sixteen, given on pages 33-39 of this report, show the 
great need for such legislation. 

10. Technical and Trade Courses in the High School 

In the " manual training course "^^ in the technical high school 
the time devoted to shopwork and drawing in the first two years 
should be increased so that the work which now requires three 
years for completion may be done in the first two. The school day 
should be lengthened at least 60 minutes, thus increasing the capacity 
of the shops — and consequently of the school — by one-third. 

In the last two years opportunity should be given for specializa- 
tion in a particular trade or technical subject, students giving from 
one-half to two-thirds of the school time to the major subject. 
Opportunity should also be given, in the last two years, for students 
intending to enter college engineering courses to take subjects which 
meet the college admission requirements. 

" The name of the course should be changed to " technical course," to conform more 
closely with the aim of the course recommended. 



26 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Provision should also be made in the technical high school for 
the boy who has been graduated from the elementary school before 
the age of sixteen, and who wishes to enter the trade school at six- 
teen. Such pupils should be permitted in the first year or two of 
the high-school course to give more than the usual amount of time 
to such shopwork as will prepare directly for the trade school — 
shop work of the same general character as that recommended for 
the vocational school [type 1, p. 15]. 

A thoroughly organized effort should be made to relate the sub- 
ject matter of the academic studies closely to the shop work and to 
industrial needs. 

The trades furnishing appropriate shopwork for the " manual 
training " course may be classified in the following groups : 

Building trades 

Carpentry, plumbing, steamfitting, sheet-metal drafting, electrical 
construction, tilesetting, concrete work, painting (house, sign, and fresco), 
architectural drawing 

Machine trades 

Patternmaking, forge, foundry, bench and vise work, machine 
practice 

Furniture trades 

Cabinetmaking, finishing, upholstering 

Printing trades 

Typesetting, bookbinding, lithography, engraving- 
Miscellaneous 

Stationary engineering, pharmaceutical and industrial chemistr}*, com- 
mercial design, jewelry, silversmithing, pottery, photography 

Parallel to the existing two-year technical college course, which 
offers a broad training for engineering students, establish in the 
technical high school more highly specialized two-year college courses 
for the purpose of preparing students to enter the higher ranks of 
industry or to become teachers of shopwork or drawing in technical 
schools. If the industrial Chicago of the future is to keep the 
promise of its past the schools must produce efficient leaders below 
the rank of engineers. By training leaders of this type Chicago will 
receive a quick economic return on her educational investment. 

11. Cooperative Courses in the Technical High School 
The cooperative plan of alternate weeks in school and factory, 
now offered in the fourth year of the Lane Technical High School, 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27 

should be introduced into the third year also, and should be offered 
in all technical high schools. 

12. Industrial Courses for Girls in the High School 

In the Flower Technical High School the time allotted to hand- 
work, including drawing, should be increased so as to occupy from 
one-half to two-thirds of the school time. 

Industrial courses for girls, permitting specialization in the last 
two years, should also be offered in the remaining technical high 
schools. In these courses, from one-half to two-thirds of the school 
time should be given to handwork, including drawing. Opportunity 
should also be given in the last two years for students intending to 
enter college technical courses to take subjects necessary to meet the 
college entrance requirements. 

The following occupations are suggested as furnishing appro- 
priate material for the industrial courses for girls : 

Dressmaking, millinery, cloakmaking, cooking, catering, lunch-room man- 
agement, homemaking, house sanitation and management, preparatory courses 
for nurses, dietetics, care of infants and invalids, house decorating and fitting, 
laundering, jewelry, silversmithing, pottery, photography, commercial design, 
bookbinding. 

The subject matter of the academic studies should be closely 
related to the handwork and to industrial needs. 

13. Central High School of Commerce 

Establish a central high school of commerce, and secure the 
cooperation and advice of representative business men in organ- 
izing a course of study and in providing for part time work of 
students in business offices. The commercial high schools of Boston 
and Cleveland [see p. 245 ff.] furnish good illustrations of the 
organization and type of work here in mind. 

14. Present Commercial Courses in the High School 

Improve the commercial courses now offered by relating them 
more closely to present business needs and practices. 



28 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



PART II 

INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN CHICAGO 
AND IN OTHER CITIES 

By 

ERNEST A. WREIDT 
Special Investigator for the Sub-committee 



CHAPTER II 

THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS FOR 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 



This chapter presents a consideration of the need for industrial 
education in Chicago as shown (a) by the ehmination of pupils from 
school, (b) by the number of over-age or retarded children in the 
elementary grades, and (c) by facts relating to children not in school 
between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years. 

Manual training and industrial training 

A distinction is made throughout this report between manual 
training and industrial training, in the sense that the latter aims 
primarily and definitely at preparation for industrial vocations, 
whereas the former aims at the general education of the individual, 
through the hand, whatever his vocation is to be. 

In presenting the need for industrial training it is not the purpose 
of this report to minimize the value of manual training, as such, in 
the public schools. The two kinds of training, as defined above, are 
not antagonistic. Even though some phases of the actual tradework 
done in present industrial schools may be introduced into manual 
training courses, to vitalize and enrich those courses, they may still 
remain general in character, and may operate for the general educa- 
tion of the individual, without regard to the specific vocation he is 
to follow. The term industrial training, however, is reserved for 
those courses which lay definite hold upon the vocational motive of 
pupils, which give more time to handwork than manual training 
courses give, and which sooner or later provide specialized and inten- 
sive training for industrial pursuits. 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 



29 



It is, then, the purpose of this chapter to show that the vocational 
motive should be introduced into the school by way of industrial 
courses, to assist in retaining pupils longer under school influence, 
to help arouse the interest and further the progress of retarded or 
over-age pupils, and to reduce the waste incident to the years four- 
teen to sixteen in the case of children who leave school at fourteen. 
The grades in which the greatest need exists for industrial courses 
will also be pointed out. 

Elimination of pupils 

The enrolment statistics of the Chicago schools, for the year 
1910, show (Fig. 1) that of the number of pupils entering the first 
grade only 57 per cent were in the eighth grade, 30 per cent in the 
first year of high school, and only 6 per cent in the last year. 

Fig. 1.^ Percentage of Pupils Retained in Chicago Public 
Schools, According to the School Report, 1910 



100 
90 
80 

70 
60 

50 
40 



Ci) 

c 

'2 









20 
10 



T""- . - 1 ^ sT X :■; 


T 45^x J: 


It It _i_ xs It iji It 




_ 1 ^_ _^ \ QjJviZ _ _^_ _ _ _ _ _| . 


irSss - - - -|- . 


\ ' 


\ 


1 


1 \ 1 1 


j L 


1 \ 


S.Vl^"? 


it IjI IT ^^^« ^ 4^ 




I ' \ 1 "'" 


i 1 -.-.,,..*,-... ,. , . . 


1 ! Si 


\ 


' 1 \ 


1 Sw P '^7 ! 


it ij <[jw:]l:5^il: _[: 




\ 1 


1 1 " _j 1 [ 


I ' "*■" "^ i" \ 1 


\ I 


' 1 1 


ill \ I ' 


I'll \ ' ' 


"l " f " "" -^ -h -^rj- -1- -[--h H 




111 Y 1 




4-i- - ' -^ _____ _ Jjm-^" "■■- -^ ~ 


1 j i 1 'S, j 1 i 




Mi t 1 \ ■ ' 1 ' ! 


1 1 t : I . t i ; 


^ ! i 1 i Mi ^, i ! 


i i i '1 1 ! >. 1,?, ''Z ■ 1 


i I 'I ^ jjl D /V> i ; 1 




1 I 1 ' 1 1 1 1 i\ ' ; ■ ' 


' ! 1 1 i 'hi <i f.^i'-v 1 


Ml ! 1 ' 'mm 1 'nK^'/fi ' 


M M : - 1 1 1 1 ' 1 ' ^*=ii<r^. W 


i ' 1 i ' i P ' ' ' ' M^ ^> 4 


M ' M 1 1 1 M 1 ! ' 1 1 M ' 1 , 1 T 


! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 I ■ 1 1 ! ■ ■ ' 1 ■ 



Gr&des 123456781 HIDIV 
EieiT!enta.ry School Hig'h Scbool, 



^ The percentages are based on total enrolment. The method of computation is that 
used in Ayres, Laggards in Our Scliools. 



30 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Fig. 1 shows, in other words, that 43 per cent of the pupils who 
entered the first grade did not reach the eighth grade, 27 per cent 
did not reach the seventh grade, 11 per cent did not reach the sixth 
grade, and 94 per cent did not complete the high-school course.^ 

Since only 86 per cent of the 57 per cent enrolled in grade eight 
were promoted to the high schooP, the number who completed grade 
eight in 1910 was only 49 per cent of the number who entered grade 
one. 

The largest gap between two successive grades is the gap between 
the eighth grade and the first year of high school, 27 per cent of the 
pupils dropping out at this point. In an effort to bridge this gap 
the Board of Education has recently provided two-year vocational 
courses for the first two years of the high school. It is quite evident 
from the above figures, however, that these vocational courses, with 
graduation from the eighth grade as a prerequisite, do not meet the 
greatest need of the schools as shown by the dropping out of pupils, 
for 43 per cent of the pupils leave school before reaching the eighth 
grade. The greatest need for vocational courses to hold pupils in 
school is apparently in grades 6, 7 and 8, which is the field occupied 
by the Farragut Elementary Industrial School. 

The Chicago schools are neither much worse nor much better 
than the schools of other cities with respect to the percentage of 
pupils retained.* In general it is charged that the large percentage 
of elimination indicates that the schools are not suited to the abil- 
ities and interests of most of the pupils. The following statements 
give further evidence of this condition in Chicago schools.^ 

(1) The average pupil in the first five grades progresses at the 
rate of eight grades in 10.4 years. 

(2) Over 69,000 pupils (32 per cent of the total) in elementary 
schools are one year or more behind grade. ^ This retardation is 
greatest in grades 4, 5 and 6. 

(3) Over 36,000 pupils in elementary schools (17.4 per cent of 
the total) repeat the work of a grade one or more times.' 

2 The method of computation here used does not show that any pupils leave school 
below the sixth grade, although Table G, p. 36, shows that some do leave below the sixth 
grade. 

3 See promotion statistics, School Report, 1910. 

* Average percentages for 63 cities, given in Ayres, op. cit., are: grade 6, 90 per 
cent; grade 7, 71 per cent; grade 8, 51 per cent; grade 9, 40 per cent; grade 10, 19 per 
cent; grade 11, 14 per cent; grade 12, 10 per cent. 

^ Based on School Report, 1909, and on the methods of computation used in Ayres, 
op. cit. 

« See Tabic 4, p. 31. 

■^ Counting the repeaters in the first five grades only. 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 



31 



(4) The money cost of this repetition is over $1,300,000.^ 

(5) There is 15 per cent more retardation among boys than 
among girls ; there are 23 per cent more repeaters among boys than 
among girls ; and the percentage of girls in grade 1 who enter the 
eighth grade is 15 per cent greater than the percentage of boys. 

Table 4. Number and Per Cent of Over-age Pupils in Chicago 
Elementary Schools, Based on School Report, 1909^ 



Grade 



Total 



One year or more over-age 



Number 



5,697 

7,946 

11,340 

11,8781 
12,426 33,902 

9,598J 

6,144 

4,064 

69,093 



Per cent 



14.8 

26.1 

34.6 

41.71 

46.5^44.0 

43.8 

34.2 

27.4 



32.7 



2 years 
or more 
over-age 



2,050 
3,417 
5,146 
5,995 
5,890 
3,608 
1,841 
1,001 



28,948 



3 years 
or more 
age 



o 



976 

1,542 

2,451 

2,547 

1,855 

855 

326 

156 



10,708 



4 years 
or more 
over-age 



549 

835 

1,091 

740 

403 

135 

43 

25 



3,821 



s It is not here implied that this amount of money would be annually saved if there 
were no repetition in the schools. 

* Over-age here refers to children above normal age for whatever cause. Ayres has 
shown that only a small part of this retardation is due to pupils who start late in grade 1. 
This is also shown by age statistics in the Chicago School Report, 1909. The ages regarded 
as normal in Table 4 are: grade 1, seven years; grade 2, eight years; . . . grade 8, 
fourteen years. It has been shown that the method of computation here used (that of 
Ayres) probably minimizes considerably the actual percentage of retardation in Chicago 
schools (see Elementary Scliool Teacher, June, 1910, p. 478). 



32 



REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 



bo 

(6 



50 



40- 



^ 30 

O 



g 20- 

<^ 10 



Over-5.g'e pcpils 

JD C}9ice.^'o elcmei^te^ry schools 











12,426 




11 ft7A 




9,5 98 






ii,t_> / v-* 














11,340 








6,144 














7946 












4,064 








5,697 




iOtc 


L! 


69,0 


95 

























Gr5.de I 



n 



in 



lY 



Y 



YI 



YE 



Yn 



It is evident from the facts given that the Chicago schools give 
the training of the eight grades to about half of the children who 
enter. It is not safe to assume that most of the children who leave 
school before completing the eighth grade do so because parents can 
not afford to keep them in school. This assumption is frequently 
made, tacitly or explicitly, but it is not supported by sufficient evi- 
dence. Indeed, the evidence that exists [see pages 37, 38] indicates 
that very likely most of these children leave school because the 
school does not provide the kind of training needed. Since the 
instruction in the lower grades is not suited to the abilities and 
interests of the average child, about half drop out at the age of four- 
teen, having lost a year or more since entering. It is evident also 
that instruction in the grades is better suited to the needs of the girls 
than to those of the boys. 

The large number of over-age children in grades 4, 5 and 6 points 
to the importance of introducing vocational courses in the elementary 
grades. These retarded children are the ones most likely to drop 
out to go to work when they reach the compulsory age limit of 
fourteen years. The elimination begins, as shown in Fig. 1, in 
grade 6. Special vocational courses beginning below grade 6 should 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 33 

therefore be of service in arousing the interest of the retarded pupils 
and in retaining them in school. 

The " zi'asted years," fourteen to sixteen 

The need for industrial education is closely associated with the 
problem of the " wasted years " of childhood, between fourteen and 
sixteen, when, as is shown below, large numbers leave school to go 
to w^ork, although these years in the industries offer little by way of 
financial compensation, or by way of vocational training and advance- 
ment. Wide interest has been aroused in educational circles by the 
statement of this problem as made in the report of the Massachu- 
setts Commission on Industrial Education, 1906. 

Fig. 2 reveals conditions in Chicago, with respect to these years, 
^ven worse than those presented in the Massachusetts report. In 

Fig. 2 ^^^ 

«^iiii^niiij)ariiuNuiiicMt:i::i;iirni;ii!i!n(iiniiHntiii(rn»intii!iiiuiiHi:u»iiaiHiii!iiniciJiiti!!iiiic}miiiiiiiii^ 

I 23,415 CHILDREN | 

I between fourteen and sixteen years of age in Chicago I 

f ARE NOT IN SCHOOL I 



*>. 



Nearly three-fourths of these children left school in 

grade 7, or below — over 16,000 

Over one-half left in grade 6, or below — over - - 11,000 \ 
Nearly one-third left in grade 5, or below — over - 7,000 

i 
iii;iiriaiiMniiHiiuii.;nHHiic:i::iim!:ii£:ii!;iiii:iiit:un;ir!!iiiQinuHr:Hiam:Miuic;ijnti(mtoiHi!m:u(nirMiiirino^ 



Massachusetts the number of children betvv^een fourteen and sixteen 
years of age who were not in school was about 25,000, which is 
about seven-tenths of one per cent of the total population of the 
State,^^ whereas the 23,415 children in Chicago represent 1.1 per cent 
of the population of the city.^^ The Chicago children also, before 
leaving school, have not reached so high a grade as the INIassachu- 

1" Based on the school census for 1910 (see Table 5) and on the records of 49,002 
children receiving age and school certificates (see Table 6). In Fig. 2 the assumption is 
made that the percentage of elimination for the various grades as shown in Table G holds 
true also, in an approximate way, for the 23,415 children not in school. 

^^ The population in 1906 was estimated from the United States Census, 1900, 1910. 

" United States Census of 1910. 

4 



34 



REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 



setts children. ^^ Only one- fourth of the 23,415 children not in 
school in Chicago had received eighth-grade training, and only four 
per cent had been in high school.^^ 

What becomes of these children in Chicago ? Over half of them 
(11,750) were idle — neither in school nor at work — according to 
the census enumerators (Table 5). The rest were stated to be at 
work, 36 per cent (4,223) in miscellaneous occupations, 29 per cent 
(3,384) in factories, and 34 per cent (4,058) in stores and offices. 
However, a simple bit of reasoning shows that if half of these chil- 
dren were idle when the census was taken^* the chances are that the 
average child works only half the time between fourteen and six- 
teen years of age. Stated in other words, the average boy or girl 
zvho leaves school at fourteen years of age is doomed to one year of 
idleness in the first two years out of school. 

Table 5.^^ Population Between Fourteen and Sixteen Years 

OF Age in Chicago 





Number 


Per cent 


Not in school 

Idle - 


11,750 
11,665 


14.6 


At work 




14.4 








Total . 


23,415 


29.0 






In school 

Public 


43,415 
13,636 


53.9 


Private 


16.9 








Total. 


57,051 


70.8 






Total popu 
Between 


ation 

14 and 16 


80,466 











^3 The percentages for Chicago (from Table 6) and for Massachusetts are; 



Chicago 

Massachusetts 







Per cent leaving in 


Grade 7 
below 


or 




Grade 6 or 
below 


Grade 5 or 
below 


71.7 
64.1 






52.4 
,S8.8 


31.4 
20.5 



^* The school census of 1908 showed that over 59 per cent of the children not in school 
between fourteen and sixteen years of age were idle when the census was taken. 

1" From the .School Census Report, 1910, on which Table 5 is based, the foUov/ing 
classification of children between fourteen and sixteen years of age may be made: the 
number in school, the number at work, and the number " not in school for 30 days." 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 



35 



All of these children left school to go to work, but they find the 
industrial field already flooded with juvenile workers. Very few 
are wanted in the skilled industries, to learn a trade, until they are 
sixteen or eighteen years of age.^® The State law specifically pro- 
hibits more than twenty occupations to these children and limits 
their working day to eight hours. They have little or no manual 
skill to offer the employer and they have received very little school 
training (Fig. 3). Employers in all grades of industry show an 
increasing aversion to employ children under sixteen years of age.^^ 

Fig. 3 



^2% 

Ledve 

in 


Tb(^ 


Mr School Train 


in§^ 15 


21% 
Leave 

• 
in 




21% 
Leave 

in 




19% 
Leave 

in 




3% 

reach 



Grade 


Grade 


Grade 


(jTcxQQ 


5 


6 


7 


Q 


orbelouj 









High 
School 

Based on 36,464 Age and School Certificates 1903-06 



The Massachusetts investigation bears out the statement that most 
of these children flit about from one juvenile occupation to another, 
with intermittent idleness for weeks at a time, all of which serves to 
develop *' that unsteadiness of purpose, irresponsibility of character, 

The number idle in Table 5 is the number given in the census as " not in school for 30 
days." Since the State law requires children between fourteen and sixteen to attend 
school, if not at work, it is assumed that the children " not in school for 30 days " had 
either been at work but were idle when the census was taken, or had been excused from 
school to seek work and had not yet found a place. The School Census Report [p. 6] 
shows that of 16,672 children holding certificates only 3.1 per cent (mainly girls) were 
helping at home. 

1" See p. 40. See also Report of New York State Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, 
Part I, Industrial Training. 

"Chicago School Report, 1908, p. 285. 



36 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



and irregularity of habit which is the undoing of manhood and 
womanhood." 

Table 6.^^ Grades of 49,002 Children Receiving Age and School 
Certificates Between Fourteen and Sixteen Years of Age 



rip A -my 


1903- 


-1906 


1908 


-1909 




No. 


Per cent 


No. 


Per cent 


From grade 5^^, and below 

From grade 6 


11,803 
7,716 
6,984 

26,503 

7,660 

1,370 

931 


32.3 
21.1 
19.1 


3,630 
2,579 
2,433 

8,642 

2,278 
770 
848 


28.9 
20 6 


From grade 7 


19.4 


Total below grade 8 

From grade 8 


72.6 

21.0 
3.7 
2.6 


68.9 
18.1 


From high school 


6.1 


Evening schools and unclassified 


6.7 


Total certificates issued. . . . 


36,464 




12,538 











The eagerness with which children leave school to go to work is 
shown in the fact that of the 12,538 children receiving age certificates 
in 1908-9, 3,259 or 25.9 per cent were not more than 14 years 1 
month of age, and 6,660 children, or 53.1 per cent were not over 14 
years 6 months of age.^^ These children do not wait long to leave 
school after they become old enough to go to work. 

That few children return to school after receiving age certificates 
is shown by an investigation of 16,672 children holding certificates. 
Of this number only 2,947, or 17 per cent were in school,^^ appar- 
ently compelled to return to school by the attendance officers who 
found the children neither in school nor at work. 

On page 277 of this report it is estimated that boys between four- 
teen and sixteen years of age in Chicago earn on the average about 
$4.25 a week. The United States census of manufacturers for 1905 

"From School Reports, 1906, 1909. 

^^ The grades indicated were not necessarily completed by all pupils. 

20 School Report, 1909, p. 81. 

21 School Census Report, 1910, p. 6. The investigation covered a period of 1^ years. 
The number who had moved or left the city is subtracted from the total investigated. 
Principals state that some children remain in school after receiving age certificates, 
engaging in some gainful occupation outside of school hours. It is practically impossible 
to find out what this number is, but it is probably very small. That most or all of this 
number probably do leave school soon after receiving certificates is shown by the investi- 
gation of the 16,672 children referred to. It has also been shown that work in vacations 
tends to lessen the school interest of pupils and to increase the elimination (see Report on 
Condition of Woman and Child Wage-earners in the United States, Vol. VII, pp. 55, 60, 
Bureau of Labor, Washington, 1910). 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 37 

shows that boys and girls between fourteen and sixteen in the manu- 
facturing industries of Chicago earn an average of $195 a year, less 
than $4 a week. These wages are for the time the children are at 
work, but, as stated before, the chances are that the average child 
works only half the time during these years, which reduces his earn- 
ing power to about $2 a week for the period. 

Why, then, do these children leave school ? When this question 
was asked of 205 boys in connection with the investigation reported 
on page 277, over 90 per cent said they were tired of school and 
could have remained in school so far as their financial circumstances 
were concerned. Fully 75 per cent said they would have continued 
in school if trade instruction had been offered. 

The Massachusetts investigation, covering 5,423 children and 
3,157 families, disclosed the following interesting facts with refer- 
ence to children between fourteen and sixteen years of age who were 
not in school 'P 

76 per cent of the families were financially able to give indus- 
trial school training to their children ; 

QiQ per cent of the children could have continued in school 
had they wanted to ; 

55 per cent of the families declared they would send their 
children to trade schools, if such schools should be provided. 

Still further evidence that many pupils who leave the public 
school would be attracted by distinctly vocational training may be 
found in the large number enrolled in correspondence and other 
private vocational schools conducted as business undertakings for 
profit. Fig. 4 gives an estimate of the enrolment and the amount 
of tuition paid in private commercial and industrial schools located 
in Chicago and conducted for profit. The figures given do not 
include the enrolment of Chicago students in correspondence schools, 
or in Y. AI. C. A. and parochial schools. 



22 From an article by Susan M. Kingsbury in Charities and the Commons, October 5, 
1907. The statements on the financial condition of the families are based on careful 
investigation and on definite standards of income and expenditure. 



38 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Fig. 4. Enrolment in Private Vocational Schools and in 
Public High Schools of Chicago-^ 

Auuri«iiiiCUffliuiiiic]iiiiuiimicauwiiaiauui:miiiQniiiiiiiinciii:iuiinininiiiiiu:Kiiiiiiniimo:i:niuuiiaiiiiiuniiiunnuiiiinDu 

There are at least There are only | 

19,000 STUDENTS 17,781 STUDENTS i 

I in ^ in all I 

i Private Commercial Schools I 

e A ot\i\ • Public High Schools i 

I and 800 in . . I 

I Private Industrial Schools ^ I 

I in Chicago, and at least ^"^ °'^'y | 

I $1,485,000 $1,114,526 j 

I is paid for is expended for | 

I TUITION MAINTENANCE ! 

•&]!uiiii(uiu]tmiiiiiMtuiiiiNHiiiu]iiMniiiuta>niMiiuii:]iiiiitiiii:jaiii;;ii:i!i(Uiiniiniii:aiiii:iit:iii[]iMHHni:tain 

The large number of students who are wiUing to pay for instruc- 
tion in these private schools shows in a convincing way the strong 
demand for practical training in commercial and industrial pursuits. 
It is shown in Chapters X and XIII that a large number of children 
leave the public high and elementary schools of Chicago to enter 
private business colleges. In the case of students from other cities 
an additional cost for living expenses is, of course, involved. 

That a year or more in the ordinary school would be of value 
to the children who leave at the age of fourteen is shown by tests 
in practical arithmetic, English, etc., given to 655 boys who left 
school in grades from the high school down to the sixth grade. ^* 
These tests, while showing a deplorable deficiency in most of the 
boys, nevertheless exhibit a consistent superiority of the upper grade 
boy over the boy from the next lov/er grade. 

But the ordinary school, as shown by the statistics given, does 
not attract and hold the majority of the children until they have com- 
pleted the eighth grade. That intermediate industrial schools and 
courses, giving definite and practical preparation for vocations, 
would attract large numbers, may be easily inferred from the facts 
which have been presented. That employers and organized labor 

23 Based on total annual enrolment in each case. The figures for the public schools 
are taken from the Superintendent's Report, 1910, and refer to day schools only. The 
figures for the private schools are obtained from the estimates for commercial schools 
given in Chapter X, and from the two industrial schools described on pp. 140, 143. It is, 
of course, not assumed that the 19,800 students in Fig. 4 include only Chicago students of 
public school age. 

'^ See p. 272 ff. 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 39 

in Chicago would welcome such schools for children between four- 
teen and sixteen years of age is shown in Fig. 5. 

Fig. 525 

AiuiiiiiuiiciuiiircMMniiiii»iuiiaiiiiiiiiiinaijiiiimiiiaiiiiu oiijiiiinniaiiii!iiimioi«i:9niuci:ini!uii!a:HiHiuiiiuii:iiiiniiiniiiiiiniiiitJiiiii:iuino;iiiniiniiocu3ii!iiiiniii<unniiaiiiinnin:nir:niiiHr.a:imiirij 



148 employers 92 trade unions 

having and having 

101,449 employees 97,000 membership 



in 



Chicago 

are in favor of 

Industrial Schools for these Children 



I 

3 

i i 

AininMnjricnimiiiMicniininniuiiiiiiinjKcniiiiiiiuiciiiu;,!iiiria:iiiii:iiinai:iiiiinniuiiiiinMuiciJiiMHnaDiiiiiniiiiicnniiniMiciiiirdininaii:jiiiiiiiiBnmiiiiiu 



Such schools and courses, if they are to attract pupils and 
parents, and if they are to win the confidence of employers and 
workmen, should be distinctly and frankly practical in their aim and 
work, not excluding, however, academic instruction closely related 
to industrial needs. Experiments in other cities present the three 
following types of schools and courses which have been developed 
in an effort to meet this need.^*^ 

1. Optional industrial courses in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, parallel 
to existing grammar school courses, and not interfering with gradu- 
ation from the elementary school in the usual time. 

2. Industrial schools and courses for elementary school pupils 
thirteen to fifteen years of age, which do not offer the possibility 
of graduation in the usual time. 

3. Independent industrial schools, offering trade training of a 
preparatory kind to children fourteen to sixteen years of age from 
grade 6, or above. 

Conclusions 

The opinion is common in educational circles that the eight 
grades of the elementary school represent the minimum school train- 
ing that should be required of all children not incapacitated by 

25 Based on Table 10, p. 47, and on Table 19, p. 75. The 92 trade unions, being 82.8 
per cent of the number of unions answering the question, may be said to represent a 
membership of at least 97,000. 

26 See Chapter VII. 



40 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

nature for receiving that training. It is indeed humiliating when 
one realizes that only half of the children in the public schools of 
Chicago receive this minimum. Those who leave school with less 
than this minimum enter the industries under the handicap of an 
insufficient school training. The first two years out of school for 
those who leave at fourteen are at present largely wasted, both to 
the child and to the industries — to the child because he finds little 
or no opportunity for training or advancement in the industries, 
because he receives little or no general training of a beneficial kind 
and may be subject to much harmful influence incident to idleness 
and shifting occupation ; to the industries because children are not 
prepared to take positions as trained workers when they are old 
enough to do skilled work. But these years could be made of great 
value for school training along vocational lines, and there are good 
reasons for believing that many children who now leave school at 
fourteen could be retained in school by such training. 

To the school is thus presented the opportunity to extend its 
influence over a portion of the community not hitherto reached. By 
appealing to the vocational motive, the school may provide that 
training in skill which the industries themselves no longer adequately 
provide,-^ and it may at the same time continue the general educa- 
tion of the children on the academic side by quickening their intelli- 
gence and interest in the active life they are to enter. 

Whatever may be the cause, the fact remains that large numbers 
of children leave school at various points in the course. The school 
can hardly be considered as doing its full duty, as a social institu- 
tion, unless it provides for each pupil, before he leaves school, that 
training which best fits him for the life he is to enter. The condi- 
tions and needs of the life he is to enter must be studied by the 
school, and a curriculum should be provided which does not assume 
that all pupils will take the complete course and go on through col- 
lege, but which offers at various appropriate points finishing courses 
which prepare definitely for a life career. 

It should be clear, from the statistics given, that the greatest need 
for such finishing courses, and for vocational courses to hold pupils 
in school, is in the intermediate grades, for the years twelve to six- 
teen. Technical education in the high school is, of course, impor- 
tant, but it does not reach the large number of children who never 

" The meagerness of provisions in the industries of Chicago for training skilled 
workers is shown in Chapter III. 



THE NEED OF CHICAGO SCHOOLS 41 

enter the high school, but who enter the industries under the handi- 
cap of an insufficient school training. It is much more important that 
all children should receive the equivalent of an eighth grade training 
than that a few more than at present should enter the high school. 
Industrial training of an introductory or rudimentary kind should 
begin at the age of twelve or thirteen, in whatever grades the chil- 
dren of that age may be found, in order to reach them before they 
have an opportunity to leave school. Such industrial courses, from 
two to four years in length, should serve as finishing courses for 
those who must enter the industries at an early age. It is the dis- 
tinctive opportunity of the high school, and therefore its duty, to 
take advantage of the superior academic attainments of its pupils 
by training mainly for positions above that of the actual mechanic, 
for the directive positions in the industries. Such technical courses 
in the high school, if they are true finishing courses preparing 
definitely for a life career after high school, should be of service in 
retaining in the high school many pupils who now leave before 
completing the course. On the lower academic levels the indus- 
trial courses should provide for the actual mechanic of the future 
the training in skill which is needed in the industries, and should 
give as much of the technical instruction in applied science, mathe- 
matics, knowledge of materials, etc., as the academic attainments of 
the pupils will permit. Such elementary courses should give that 
all-around training in skill which is not generally obtainable in the 
industries, and should endeavor to develop such a degree of indus- 
trial intelligence and adaptability as will make rapid advancement 
possible after work is begun. 



42 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER III 

CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 
OF CHICAGO 

AND 

THE ATTITUDE OF EMPLOYERS 



To ascertain the need for industrial education as shown by con- 
ditions in the skilled industries of Chicago, and as shown by the 
attitude of the employers toward industrial schools, the following 
schedule of questions^ was sent to employers in selected industries in 
the city : 

1. From what source do you obtain your skilled employees — employees 
of high-grade skill, and of medium or low-grade skill? 

(a) Are they trained in your own establishment ? 

(b) Are they obtained from other sources ? 

If so, what are these sources ? 

2. Do you have difficulty in obtaining or in training skilled employees? 

3. Do you have difficulty in obtaining or in training employees to act as 
foremen or department heads ? 

4. Would the efficiency and future opportunities of your employees be 
increased if they received a training between the ages of fourteen and sixteen 
in a general public industrial or preparatory trade school which aims to give 
a knowledge of materials, shop mathematics and fundamental industrial 
methods, and some ideas of industrial organization, but does not teach a spe- 
cial trade ? 

5. Would practical day trade schools, giving a specialized and intensive 
training of one year or more after the age of sixteen, help to meet the prob- 
lem of skilled employees in your business ? 

6. Would practical evening or half-time schools be of value in helping- 
unskilled workers, or those of low-grade skill, to advance to positions requir- 
ing high-grade skill ? 

7. To what extent could your business be advanced if more skilled 
workers were available, and if greater industrial or business intelligence pre- 
vailed among foremen or department heads ? 

1 The questions were suggested by similar questions given in the Report of the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, New York State, 1908, Part I, Industrial Training. Some of the 
questions are taken verhatiyn from that report. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 43 

8. Total number of emploj^ees in the manufacturing department : 
male ; female 

Number of employees under sixteen years of age : 
male ; female 



Employees of Low-grade Skill 

9. Number of employees of medium or low-grade skill, operating one 
machine, or carrying on one process, requiring small degree of skill : 

male ; female 

Weekly wages of this class, not counting overtime : 

Male Female 

Highest 

Lowest 

Wages of greatest number 

10. Number of employees being trained for work in this low-grade class 
under the age of eighteen years : 

male ; female 

Employees of High-grade Skill 

11. Number of employees of high-grade skill with knowledge of all 
processes, or a number of processes, or high skill in one process : 

male ; female 

Weekly wages of this class, not counting overtime : 

Male Female 

Highest 

Lowest 

Wages of greatest number • 

12. Number of employees being trained for work in this high-grade class 
under the age of eighteen years : 

male ; female 

13. If you have a system of training employees for skilled work or for 
supervisory work, please give some description of it 

The industries selected for investigation were on the whole those 
requiring a comparatively large amount of skilled work. In addition, 
the packing houses were included because of the importance of this 
industry in Chicago, although it requires a relatively small amount 
of skill. One manufacturing confectionery, one wall-paper mill, 
and one mail-order house were also canvassed, and are included in 
some of the following tables under the heading '' miscellaneous." 

As a rule those establishments were selected, in a given industry, 
which employed the largest number of persons. Reports were 



44 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



received from 181 establishments, having 111,606 employees,- clas- 
sified in ten industrial groups, as follows : 

Table 7. Number of Establishments Replying and Number 
OF Employees Therein, by Industries 





Number 
of estab- 
lishments 


Number of employees 


INDUSTRY 


Male 


Female 


Total 


1 . Industries employing mainly 
women 


36 
9 

49 

17 

10 

35 

11 

7 

4 

3 


1,591 

2,837 

49,222 

5,326 

4,330 

3,907 

279 

19,911 
1,164 
4,495 


4,092 
2,240 

4,863 

32 

356 

1,182 

118 

1,778 

78 

3,805 

18,544 


5,683 


2. Men's clothing 

3. Iron, steel and electrical 

products 

4. Contractors and builders . . . 

5. Furniture, office fixtures. . . . 

6. Printing 

7. Jewelry manufacturing 

8. Packing houses 

9. Pianos, musical instruments. 
10. JMiscellaneous 


5,077 

54,085 

5,358 

4,686 

5,089 

397 

21,689 
1,242 
8,300 


Total 


1813 


93,062 


111,606 



Method of obtaining reports 

Except a few establishments visited by the committee's repre- 
sentative, the reports were obtained by correspondence. The Chi- 
cago Association of Commerce, through the chairmen of its various 
trade sub-divisions, assisted in selecting the industries to be can- 
vassed. These chairmen were intimately acquainted with conditions 
in their own trade sub-divisions and were therefore able to give 
reliable information as to the largest establishments in their own 
sub-divisions and as to the firms emplo3dng the largest percentage of 
skilled workmen. This information was secured by the committee's 
representative in a personal interview with the chairmen of the sub- 
divisions. 

2 Omitting the 13,858 employees in the group of contractors and builders and in the 
one mail-order house, the remaining total number of employees represents 40.6 per cent 
of all employees in manufacturing industries of Chicago, according to the United States 
Census of 1905. Of the 18 leading manufacturing industries of Chicago, according to the 
1905 Census, all are represented in this investigation except the following (numbers indi- 
cate rank in value of products): 6, steam railroad cars; 7, bakery products; 9, malt 
liquors; 12, coffee and spice; 15, illuminating and heating gas; 16, smelting and refining 
of lead. 

3 Four establishments in group 1 did not report the number of employees; also 1 in 
group 2, 2 in group 3, 4 in group 4, 1 in group 6, and 1 in group 8. In some of the fol- 
lowing tables the different numbers given for the total employees in a particular industry, 
or grouping of industries, are explained by the fact that all establishments replying from 
that industry, or group, did not answer all the questions in the schedule submitted. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



45 



Each letter addressed to firms in the Chicago Association of 
Commerce was accompanied by an official letter from the Associa- 
tion urging the attention of employers to the schedule of questions. 
A personal letter from the chairmen of the trade sub-divisions or 
from other individuals closely associated with the firms addressed 
was also sent in practically all cases. In addition a general state- 
ment of the purpose and scope of the investigation was enclosed. 
The replies received represent about 55 per cent of the number of 
firms addressed. 

General summary 

To give a glance at the general results of the investigation, the 
replies from the 181 establishments are summarized in Tables 8, 9, 
10, and 11, below. The detailed figures are presented in Tables 12 
to 18, inclusive. 

Table 8 shows that 41.1 per cent of the employees are in the class 
of low-grade or medium skill, and 27.7 per cent are in the highly 
skilled class. The number reported as unskilled is 31.1 per cent of 
the total. 

Table 8. Number of Employees, with Per Cent of Total, ix 
Various Classes, for All Establishments Answer- 
ing These Questions Completely 





Male 


Female 


Total 


Total 
employees 
in estab- 
lishments 
answering 

the 

questions 

(See Notes) 


Per cent 

of total 

employees 


Number under 16 


530 

864 
886 


684 

784 
274 


1,214 

1,648 
1,160 


99,141 


1.2 


Number under 18 being 
trained: 

(a) low-grade skill 

(b) high-grade skill 


2.2 
1.5 


Total 

Number of skilled employees: 

(a) low-grade skill 

(b) high-grade skill 


1,750 

29,898 
22,403 


1,058 

6,875 
2,407 


2,808 

36,773 
24,810 


75,343 


3.7 

41.1 

27.7 


Total 


52,301 
22,070 


9,282 
5,680 


61,583 
27,750 


89,333 
89,333 


68.8 


Number of unskilled em- 
ployees 


31.1 



46 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



That few children under sixteen years of age are wanted in the 
skilled industries of Chicago and that few under eighteen are being 
trained for skilled work is shown by the following argument, assum- 
ing the firms in Table 8 to be fairly representative, in these respects, 
of the skilled industries of Chicago. 

From Table 8 the number of children under sixteen is 1.2 per 
cent of the total number of employees. The population of Chicago 
between fourteen and sixteen years of age is more than 4.9 per cent 
of the total population fourteen years of age, and over.* The ratio 
of 1.2 to 4.9 is less than ^. It is, then, safe to say that, of the age- 
group fourteen to sixteen, the skilled industries employ less than 
one-fourth of the persons available to those industries under a 
normal^ distribution of age-groups. 

Similarly, the number under eighteen being trained is 3.7 per 
cent of the total number of employees. The population in Chicago 
between fourteen and eighteen years of age is more than 9.1 per 
cent of the total population fourteen years of age, and over.* The 
ratio of 3.7 to 9.1 is a little over 2-5. It is, then, safe to say that, 
of the age-group fourteen to eighteen, the skilled industries are 
training only a little over two-fifths of the persons available to those 
industries under a normal^ distribution of age-groups. This is for 
positions of low-grade skill as well as for positions of high-grade 
skill. For the latter positions alone, the number under eighteen 
being trained (1.5 per cent of the total employees) is less than one- 
sixth of the persons available under a normal^ distribution of age- 
groups. 

According to Table 9, 74.7 per cent of the firms report difficulty 
in obtaining or in training skilled employees, and 63.1 per cent report 
difficulty in obtaining or in training foremen. 

Table 9. Summary of Replies to Questions 2 and 3 





"Yes" 


"No" 


Per cent "Yes" 


Question 2 

Question 3 


133 
106 


45 
62 


74.7 
63.1 






Total 


239 


107 


69.0 







■* Based on the school census, 1910, and on the United States census, 1900, 1910. 

^ " Normal " in the sense of corresponding to the age distribution of the total popu- 
lation fourteen years of age and over. The ratios would be a little over one-fourth, one- 
half and one-fourth, respectively, if the number of females in the groups referred to in 
Table 8 were equal to the number of males. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



47 



As a somewhat definite measure of the degree of difficulty expe- 
rienced in obtaining skilled employees, 93.7 per cent of the firms 
report (Table 13, page 52) that their business could be advanced 
in amounts varying from 10 to 100 per cent, or more, if more skilled 
workers were available. Fifty-eight per cent of the firms train few 
or none of their own skilled emiployees (Table 14). 

That industrial schools for the years fourteen to sixteen would 
be of value to the industries is asserted by 88 per cent of the firms 
(Table 10). The number of employees in these establishments is 
101,449, or 91.9 per cent of the total. Ninety per cent, having 93,398 
employees, are in favor of trade schools after the age of 16; 86.4 
per cent favor evening schools. 



Table 10. Summary of Replies to Questions 4, 5 and 6 





"Yes- 


"No- 


Per cent "Yes" 




No. of 

establish- 
ments 


Total 

employees 
therein 


No. of 
establish- 
ments 


Total 

employees 

therein 


Of the 

establish- 

mxcnts 


Of the 

total 

employees 


Question 4 

Question 5 

Question 6 


148 
144 
147 


101,449 
93,398 


17 
16 
23 


8,837 
13,915 


88.0 
90.0 
86.4 


91.9 

87.0 



It is interesting to compare the replies of Chicago employers to 
questions 2, 4, 5 and 6 with the replies to the same questions of 
nearly 900 employers in similar industries in the State of New 
York.^ Table 11 shows that the percentage of employers reporting 
difficulty in obtaining skilled employees (question 2) is very much 
greater in Chicago than in New York State. The percentage of 
employers favoring the three types of industrial schools (questions 
4, 5 and 6) is also, in each case, much greater in Chicago. Since 
the State of New York has deemed it necessary to establish a sys- 
tem of industrial schools under State subsidy, Chicago is, by com- 
parison, somevv^hat backward in making provisions to meet the 
greater need and to respond to the more favorable attitude of 
employers toward industrial schools. 

^Report of New York State Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, Part I, p. 14 ff. In this 
comparison the New York industries included are: metals, wood, printing, clothing, build- 
ing. The industries omitted from the Chicago investigation are: packing houses, miscel- 
laneous. The questions used for the comparison are the same in both investigations. 



48 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Table 11. Comparison of Replies of Chicago and New York 
State Employers to Certain Questions 



Question 2 
Question 4 
Question 5 
Question 6 




49.9 
79.3 
70.6 
73.3 



The detailed results 

Table 12 shows the supply of skilled labor and the weekly wages 
most frequently paid, classified by industries. The data on the sup- 
ply of skilled labor are obtained from the answers to the following 
two questions : 

Question 2. Do yoii have difficulty in obtaining or in training 
skilled employees f 

Question 3. Do you have difficulty in obtaining or in training 
employees to act as foremeti or department heads? 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



49 



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REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



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CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



51 



The totals in Table 12 show that 74.7 per cent of the establish- 
ments have difficulty in obtaining skilled employees, and that 63.1 
per cent have difficulty in obtaining foremen or department heads. 

In only three of the industries do a majority of the firms answer 
'' no " to question 2 ; men's neckware, etc., packing houses, and the 
three miscellaneous establishments. To question 3 a majority 
answered " no " in only five industries ; men's neckwear, etc., mil- 
linery, furniture, packing houses, and pianos. 

The greatest difficulty in obtaining skilled employees and fore- 
men is found in printing, industries employing mainly women, 
jewelry, and men's clothing (Table 12a). The group of contractors 
and builders shows considerable difficulty in obtaining foremen. 

Table 12a. Rank of the Industries in Table 12, by Groups 



Rank of groups on question 2 


Rank on 
question 3 


V/eekly wages 




Low-grade skill 


High-grade skill 


1 . Printing 

2. Industries employing 

mainly women 

3. Jewelry manufacturing. . 

4. Pianos 


3 

5 

1 

10 

2 

6 

8 

4 

7 
9 


m. 8.50-15.00 
f. 6.00-10.00 
m. 8.00-15.00 
f. 5.00-15.00 
m. 8.00-10.00 
f. 6.00- 7.00 
m. 10.50-13.00 
f. 5.50 
m. 8.00-10.00 
f. 7.00- 9.00 
m. 10.00-18.00 
f. 6.00- 9.00 
m. 11.00-15.00 
f. 

m. 10.80-17.00 
f. 


20.00-28.00 
12.00-18.00 
15.00-30.00 
8.00-24.00 
20.00-25.00 

18.00-19.00 


4. Men's clothing 


10.00 
18.00-23.00 


5. Iron and steel 


15.00-19.00 
16.50-22.00 


6. Furniture 


8.00-11.00 
15.00-19.50 


7. Contractors 


8.00-13.00 
16.20-30.00 


8. Miscellaneous 




9. Packing houses 


m. 10.50-12.00 
f. 6.50-12.00 


15.00-25.00 




7.50-14.00 



An examination of the wages paid in the high-grade skilled class 
shows, in a general way, that the industries of higher rank on ques- 
tion 2 pay the higher wages for this class of employees. In the 
low-grade class the inverse relation predominates. It can not be 
said, therefore, on the basis of these reports, that the greater diffi- 
culty of obtaining skilled employees in certain industries is due to 
the lower wages paid. 

A somewhat definite measure of the degree of difficulty experi- 
enced in obtaining skilled employees is furnished by Table 13 which 
gives the answers to the following question : 



52 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Question 7. To what extent could your business be advanced if 
more skilled workers were available, and if greater industrial or 
business intelligence prevailed among foremen or department heads? 

Table 13. Answers to Question 7, by Industries 





Number answering question 7 by: 




INDUSTRY 


"amazing 
degree" 
"vast" 
"unlim- 
ited" 
100 percent 
or more 


"very 

much" 

"greatly" 

50%-100% 


"some" 
"consider- 
ably." 
"materi- 

allv" 
10%-50% 


"none" 


Not 
answering 

the 
question 


1. Industries employing 

mainly women (36) ^ . . . 

2. Men's clothing (9) 

3. Iron, steel and electrical 

products (49) 


4 
1 

2 

2 

2 
1 


8 

1 

12 

2 

1 
8 

3 
1 


12 
3 

20 

9 

3 

17 

3 

2 

4 
1 


1 

1 
1 


11 

4 
14 


4. Contractors and build- 

ers (17) 

5. Furniture, metallic beds, 

office furniture (10) . . . 

6. Printing (35) 


3 

4 

7 


7. Jewelry manufacturing 
(11) 


5 


8. Packing houses (7) 

9. Pianos, musical instru- 

ments (4) 




3 


10. Miscellaneous (3) 






2 












Total (181) 


12 


36 


74 


8 


51 






Per cent of total number 
(130) answering the ques- 
tion 


9.2 


27.6 


56.9 


6.1 





The totals in Table 13 show that 93.7 per cent of the establish- 
ments answering the question believe that their business could be 
advanced in amounts varying from 10 to 100 per cent, or more, if 
more skilled workers were available ; 36.8 per cent of the establish- 
ments believe that the advance would be from 50 to 100 per cent, 
or more. 

That most employers have not trained in their own establish- 
ments all, or even a majority of their skilled employees, is shown by 
Table 14, which gives the replies to the following question : 

Question 1. From what source do you obtain your skilled 
employees — employees of high-grade skill, and of medium or low- 
grade skill? 

" The numbers in parentheses following the descriptive terms indicate the number of 
establishments replying. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



53 



(a) Are they trained in your own establishments? (h) Are 
they obtained from other sources? 

Table 14. Training of Skilled Employees 



INDUSTRY 



1. Industries employing mainly 

women (36) 

Embroidery, children's dresses, 

dry goods, specialties (9) 

Hats, gloves, fur goods (3) 

Men's neckwear, shirts, hosiery, 

underwear (7) 

Cloaks, suits, waists (5) 

Factory millinery (6) 

Paper boxes (6) 

2. Men's clothing (9) 

Wholesale manufacturers (5) . . . 
Tailors to the trade (4) 

3. Iron, steel and electrical products, 

conveyances (49) 

Machine and engine construc- 
tion, car building, foundry, 
steel works, ornamental iron 
(21) 

Electrical apparatus, gas and 
electric fixtures, automatic 
machines (9) 

Automobiles and accessories, 
wagons, farm implements (19) 

4. Contractors and builders (17) . . . . 

General construction of build- 
ings, electric power plants, 
docks (10) 

Bridge and other steel structural 
work (3) 

Excavating, wrecking, roofing 
(4) 

5. Furniture, metallic beds, office 

fixtures (10) 

6. Printing (35) 

Job and newspaper printing (20) 
Engraving, electrotyping, em- 
bossing, lithographing (15) . . . 

7. Jewelry manufacturing (11) 

8. Packing houses and allied indus- 

tries (7) 

9. Pianos, musical instruments (4) . . 

Total 

Per cent of total number (174) of firms 
answering the question 



Number of firms answering that of their 
skilled employees they train in their own 
establishments 



■All" 



17 



9.7 



"Majority' 



14 

6 
1 

4 
1 
1 
1 
5 
4 
1 

18 



56 



32.1 



'Few' 



11 
1 

2 

2 
1 
3 
2 
3 
1 
2 

23 



14 



2 

1 

3 

8 
19 
11 

8 
9 



82 



47.1 



'None' 



19 



10.9 



54 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



The totals for Table 14 show that 58 per cent of the establish- 
ments train few or none of their skilled employees; that only 9.7 
per cent train all of their skilled employees ; and that 32.1 per cent 
train a majorit}^ Corresponding percentages for similar industries 
in New York State are 59.6 per cent training few or none ; 5.5 per 
cent training all ; 33.7 per cent training a majority. ^^ 

The rank of the industries with respect to the percentages of 
firms reporting that they train few or none of their skilled employees 
is shown in Table 14a. 

Table 14a. Rank of the Industries in Table 14, by Groups 



Jewelry manufacturing 

Furniture, metallic beds, office fixtures 

Pianos and musical instruments 

Printing 

Contractors and builders 

Iron, steel and electrical products, conveyances . . 

Industries employing mainly women 

Men's clothing 

Packing houses 

Total 




Per cent reporting that 
they train few or none 
of their skilled em- 
ployees 

81.8 
80.8 
75.0 
74.2 
68.7 
65.1 
44.1 
33.3 



58.0 



That the apprentice system does not meet the need for skilled 
employees is shown by the investigation of 452 establishments in 
New York State, in industries similar to most of those canvassed in 
Chicago; 66.8 per cent reported that the apprentice system did not 
meet the need for skilled employees in their business. ^^ 

The industrial and social conditions responsible for the failure 
of the apprenticeship system to train a sufficient number of skilled 
employees are well set forth in the following quotation from a dis- 
cussion of this question by Prof. C. R. Richards, Director of Cooper 
Union, New York City.^^ 

^° Report of New York State Bureau of Statistics, Part I, 1908. In this comparison 
the New York industries omitted are: glass, leather, textiles, cigars and confectionery. 

" Report of New York State Bureau of Statistics, Part I, 1908. In this statement 
the New York industries omitted are: glass, leather, textiles, cigars and confectionery. 

" The quotation is taken from the Report of the New York State Bureau of Statistics, 
Part I, 1908, pp. 24-27. Professor Richard's extensive observations give special value to 
his statement. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 55 

The modern organization of industry on the capitalist basis means the 
employment of numbers of workmen as wage earners whose sole responsi- 
bility is the forwarding of the productive tasks assigned to them. Such 
organization generally also means extended division of labor. It means these 
things whether hand power or machinery be used in this industry. In the 
trades where machiner}^ is used, the value of the workman's time for purely 
productive purposes is increased by the added cost of machine and power. 
With the entire working force engaged upon production, it is no one's interest 
to turn aside and instruct the learner, and such instruction, if in any sense 
comprehensive, can be given in the direct course of production only at a cer- 
tain immediate loss. 

Under these conditions, the employer of to-day, drawing his workmen 
from the general labor market, that in some cases is largely fed by immigra- 
tion, no longer feels the same individual necessity and responsibility for the 
training of beginners and hesitates to assume the cost and inconvenience 
of such a provision. The maintenance of a thorough apprenticeship system 
having become exceptional, imposes in a sense a penalty upon the manufac- 
turer who undertakes it, inasmvich as he has no guarantee that apprentices 
will remain in his employ. Furthermore, the great subdivision of labor that 
characterizes all modern industries on a large scale imposes peculiar difficul- 
ties in the way of a thorough and comprehensive training, inasmuch as such 
a training involves a shifting of the apprentice from one branch to another 
that lessens his productive value. All these conditions make the employer 
slow to assume the trouble and expense of a thorough apprenticeship system. 
The tendency is more and more to place the beginner upon certain special 
branches at the tools and let him develop as quickly as possible into a pro- 
ductive unit. 

On the other hand, as pointed out above, the journeyman under ordinary 
conditions has no interest or advantage in the training of an apprentice. 
His first consideration is, of necessity, his own wages, and especially in those 
industries that are upon a piece-work basis, the journeyman has no time 
for teaching ; furthermore, he is apt to look upon the apprentice as a future 
rival who will add to the supply of skilled workers and reduce his own 
chance of employment. 

Another difficulty, and a very large one, that faces the apprenticeship 
question is the unwillingness of the American boy to submit to a long period 
of training at low wages for the sake of future opportunities. The tendency 
of the American boy is toward a short cut; he resents the rules and restric- 
tions of the apprenticeship period and turns to openings that yield larger 
immediate returns. That this attitude is justifiable and natural in many cases 
v/here the so-called apprentice is given practically no assistance toward 
attaining a really broad training, and where he is left largely to chance and 
his own initiative to pick up anything more than the rudiments of a trade, 
must be conceded. This attitude is only removed when the apprentice feels 
that his interests are being cared for and a systematic effort is being made 
to open up a future v/orth working for. That it is removable is satisfactorily 
shown in those instances where provision is made for systematic training 
and technical instruction on the part of the employer. 



56 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Another cause that holds back a bright boy from the apprenticeship is 
the low wages paid. Whereas the journeyman's wage has been advanced in 
most of the skilled trades under the influence of organization, the wages of 
the apprentice have not advanced in proportion to the demand for young 
men in the industries. Organized labor, v.ith its mind almost solely upon 
the advancement of the standard of living, and the employer, with his m.ind 
almost solely upon the increase of profits, have neither been concerned to 
advance the wage of the apprentice, and with no influence to press them 
upward these wages have remained extremely low. 

Owing to these many conditions, apprenticeship in the sense of a broad 
and thorough training of the first-class workman has given place in many 
establishments and in many of the industries where it formerly prevailed to 
a so-called apprenticeship that trains in only a narrow range of work and 
fits only in some special line of skill. In such apprenticeship systems the 
period of training is much shorter than in the older form and very often 
no age restrictions are imposed. Such systems figure to quite an extent 
in . . . the machine woodworking trades, in the manufacture of gas and 
electric fixtures, in some branches of boot and shoe manufacture, in garment 
making and in the manufacture of cigars. 

The helper system is another important channel through v/hich beginners 
enter the skilled trades. The helper takes various forms in the various 
trades, but in general he supplies the relatively unskilled help needed to 
carry forv/ard the work of the skilled journeyman. In som.e industries, as 
in certain of the building trades, he appears as an unskilled mature laborer 
that rarely advances to the grade of a skilled worker. In others he is repre- 
sented by a younger class, belov/ the journeyman, called juniors, improvers 
or helpers, who may be in regular succession to the skilled positions. In 
other cases, as in the machine shop, the helper is a " handy man " who per- 
forms odd jobs and in general the less skilled kinds of work such as finishing 
and filing. Such helpers have an opportunity to watch the operations of the 
journeyman and to become acquainted with his work, and where the condi- 
tions admit, the brighter and more progressive advance to the positions of 
skilled workmen. 

One other general method under which skilled workers for the industries 
are recruited applies more or less to all industries in which great division of 
labor obtains. In such industries beginners are generally put at first at the 
simpler operations, and as they show ability and application are advanced 
to somewhat more difficult processes or the manipulation of less simple 
machines. This advancement may continue up to that particular point in the 
organization bej^ond which the capacities or ambition of the worker are not 
sufficient to carry him. This system of developing skilled workers obtains 
in most VvOmen's trades, such as clothing, millinery and laundries, in the 
boot and shoe manufacture and in textile mills, and is found more or less 
combined with other systems of training in all other industries where much 
division of labor obtains. 

Table 15 shows the attitude of employers on industrial schools, 
as revealed by the answers to the following three questions : 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 57 

Question 4. Would the efficiency and future opportunities of 
your employees he increased if they received a training between the 
ages of fourteen and sixteen in a general public industrial or pre- 
paratory trade school which aims to give a knowledge of materials, 
shop mathematics, and fundamental industrial methods, and some 
idea of industrial organisation, but does not teach a special trade? 

Question 5. Would practical day trade schools, giving a special- 
ized and intensive training of one year or more after the age of six- 
teen, help to meet the problem of skilled employees in your business f 

Question 6. Would practical evening or half-time trade schools 
he of value in helping unskilled workers, or those of low-grade skill, 
to advance to positions requiring high-grade skill? (Remark. Ques- 
tion 6 was interpreted by practically all employers to refer to evening 
schools only.) 



58 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



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CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



59 



The rank of the industries, in the order of the per cent of the 
number of estabHshments answering " yes " to questions 4 and 5 
is as follows : 

Table 15a. Rank of the Industries in Table 15 



Rank on question 4 



1. Jewelry 

1. Miscellaneous 

2. Iron, steel 

3. Contractors 

4. Industries employing mainly women 

5. Furniture 

6. Men's clothing 

6. Packing houses 

7. Printing 

8. Pianos 



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on question 5 

1 

8 
2 
3 
4 
5 
1 
6 
7 
1 



Table 16 gives the number of employees of medium or low-grade 
skill, the number of high-grade skill, the total number of employees, 
and the per cent of the total force in the two skilled classes. 



60 



REPORT ON VOCAIIOXAL TRAIXIXG 



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CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



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62 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



The totals for Table 16 show that 68.9 per cent of the employees 
are in the two skilled classes, only 27.7 per cent, however, in the 
high-grade skilled class. 

The rank of the ten groups of industries with respect to the per- 
centage of employees in the highly skilled class is given in Table 16a. 

Table 16a. Rank of Industries with Respect to Percentage 
OF Employees in Highly Skilled Class 



1. Men's clothing^^ 

2. Furniture 

3. Printing 

4. Pianos 

5. Contractors 

6. Industries employing mainly 
wornxn 

7. Iron, steel 

8. Jewelry 

9. Packing houses 

10. Miscellaneous 

Total 



Per cent in highly 
skilled class 



27 



73 


1,165 


70 


4,236 


62 


4,803 


52 


1,242 


49 


3,208 


25 


4,400 


23 


47,286 


19 


379 


16 


14,439 


10 


8,175 



Total employees in 
establishments 
answering these 
questions 



89,333 



Table 17 gives the number and per cent of employees under 
eighteen years of age being trained for positions of medium or low- 
grade skill, and for positions of high-grade skill. 



^^ Of the 9 firms in this industry replying to the committee's letter, only 3 firms 
answered the questions here involved. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 



63 



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64 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



The totals for Table 17 show that the number of employees 
under eighteen years of age being trained for positions in the two 
skilled classes is 3.7 per cent of the total working force. For the 
highly skilled class the number is 1.5 per cent of the total force. 

Table 18 gives the number and per cent of employees under 16 
years of age. 

Table 18. Number and Per Cent of Employees under 16 





Number of employees under 16 


Total 
employees 
in establish- 
ments 
answering 

the 
question 


Per cent 


INDUSTRY 


Male 


Female 


Male and 
Female 


em- 
ployees 


1. Industries employing 
mainly women (Siy^ 

2. Men's clothing (8) 

3. Iron, steel and electrical 
products (46) 


40 
71 

24 


357 
164 


397 
235 

24 


5,383 

5,087 

49,285 

5,358 

4,686 

5,089 

397 

14,439 

1,242 
8,175 


7.313 
4.6 

0.0004 


4. Contractors and builders 
(13) 


0.0 


5. Furniture, metallic beds 

and office fixtures (10) 

6. Printing (34) 

7. Jewelry manufacturing(ll) 

8. Packing houses (5) 

9. Pianos and musical instru- 
ments (4) 

10. Miscellaneous (2) 


49 

185 

2 

11 

16 
132 


6 

11 
35 


49 

296 

8 

11 

27 
167 


1.0 

5.8 
2.0 
0.0007 

2.1 

2.0 


Total 


530 


684 


1,214 


99,141 


1.2 







Recapitulation 

The number of children under sixteen years in Chicago's skilled 
industries is almost zero, just above one per cent. These children are 
receiving no training. The industries that are giving any sort of 
training for high-grade skill affect only one-sixth of the group of 
children between fourteen and eighteen, and for both low-grade and 
high-grade skill the industries are training only two-fifths of the 
children of that age. 

Three-fourths of the firms replying find difficulty in obtaining 
or training skilled employees, and a little lower percentage report 

'° This large per cent is due mainly to the returns from one firm, manufacturing paper 
boxes, which reports 250 girls and 15 boys under sixteen years of age, out of a total 
force of 800 females and 200 males. 

2'' The numbers in parentheses following the descriptive terms indicate the number of 
establishments replying to the questions concerned in this table. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 65 

difficulty in training or obtaining foremen ; nearly sixty per cent of 
the firms train few or none of their own skilled workmen. 

Practically all admit that their business would be advanced if 
more skilled workers were available. For this reason nearly ninety 
per cent believe that industrial schools of different types for the 
years between fourteen and eighteen would be of value to their con- 
cerns. 

The percentage of employers in Chicago finding difficulty in 
obtaining skilled laborers is greater than those reporting in the New 
York State inquiry, and a larger percentage favor industrial school- 
ing of different types. 

The indication of this report is that the firms which feel the 
need of more skilled labor are offering higher wages, so that the 
scarcity of skilled labor is not due to relatively low wages. Refer- 
ring to the New York report we find that nearly seventy per cent 
of the firms replying stated that the apprenticeship system does not 
meet the need for skilled employees. What is true in New York in 
this respect is true in Chicago. 

Beyond question Chicago's industries need and demand industrial 
training during the years when that training can be profitably given, 
that is during the years between fourteen and eighteen, and this 
need is being met neither by the industries themselves, nor by the 
apprenticeship system, nor as yet by the schools. 

Comments of individual employers 

The schedule of questions submitted to employers contained the 
statement that suggestions would be welcome on any of the ques- 
tions or on the general subject. In response to this statement, the 
following comments were received. All the comments, which were 
of significance one way or another, are here included, classified by 
industries. 

A. Industries employing mainly women 

1. We employ about 300 girls in our factory here and have difficulty 
at times to obtain sufficient trained operators. We believe an industrial school 
for girls would be a great help to manufacturers here. We would go further, 
and recommend that commercial training schools for boys and girls be 
established. It is becoming more difficult all the time to obtain sufficient 
and efficient office help. We think it would be a very valuable thing to have 
schools for both purposes, for the office as well as for the factory. In some 
of the foreign countries the trade schools are a great help, not only to the 
merchants but to the young men who are obliged to attend them. 
6 



66 REPORT ON J'OCATIOXAL TRAINING 

2. We find that not being able to get girls and boys at fourteen to work 
in our shop we are shut out of their efforts at a time in life when they are 
most susceptible for the grasping of the details of business and readily learn 
what is required. But at sixteen the young employee has not benefited by 
the last two years in school and his mind is full of little things that detract 
from his application and ofttimes he is downright bad at heart and cannot 
or will not apply himself to his work with an idea of making a success of 
same. Usually the first question asked by a boy of sixteen is the amount of 
wage he is to receive, and if same seems to be sufficiently large to cover his 
fancied needs he will accept the position without any regard to whether he 
cares for the kind of employment or any desire to become a skilled fur 
worker. 

This holds more with boys than girls, but think both would be greatly 
benefited if they could be put to work at fourteen years in clean, sanitary, 
high-class workshops under just and upright employers. 

3. We have great trouble in obtaining skilled employees, and owing to 
this we were compelled to open branches in other cities. 

A practical trade school for boys and girls sixteen years of age would 
be the greatest help to become artists in our line, for which there is a great 
field. Enlightenment of any kind vx^ill advance positions very materially in 
our line. 

4. The only way in which we see an industrial training in the public 
schools could directly benefit the cloak and suit trade would be to teach the 
girls how to handle a needle, as it is surprising the number we get Vv'ho do 
not knovv^ the first rudiments of sewing. 

We believe, however, anything which tends to give a practical and indus- 
trial education is a good thing for manufacturing trade in general. 

B. Men's clothing 

1. We educate the people who come to us to sew ; we educate pressers, 
button-hole makers, cutters and, in fact, employees in every department of 
manufacture. Very few of these people have had any other education except 
a few years in the graded public schools. 

There is some difficulty in obtaining the right class of men to act in 
executive capacities, such as foremen and heads of tailoring shops. For 
example, we have offered excellent opportunities in these positions, but before 
a man can competently manage a shop he must first become a tailor. The 
man of college education will not undertake it, for he considers the form of 
work necessary for his practical education to be beneath his dignity. The 
men who are now filling the positions of foremen and superintendents are 
those who have graduated from the ranks of the practical workman without 
other education than that received from us in the shops where they were 
previously employed. 

We believe in industrial education and are convinced that the efficiency 
and opportunities of employees are greater if they are schooled between the 
ages of fourteen and sixteen. People who have not had any education do 
not rise, except in rare cases, above mediocrit5^ With further education 
they will undoubtedly rise much higher on the average. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 67 

2. There can be no question about the great benefit our industries would 
derive from trade schools, combined with elementary schools for boys and 
girls, such schools to take up the studies which the graduates from the gram- 
mar schools receive in the first year of the high school. This would take 
in the boys and girls from fourteen to sixteen years, the average age when 
they complete the grammar grades. 

Separate trade schools, in my opinion, should be established for each 
particular industry, superintended by a board of directors composed of manu- 
facturers in that branch of industry and managed by one or more good, 
practical foremen, such foremen to be paid a fair salary, and the expenses of 
the school to be met by annual contributions of the manufacturers in that 
branch of industry. The tailoring industry would give all possible assistance. 

In view of the fact that, in many instances, these boys and girls of four- 
teen to sixteen years of age contribute to their own support, or that of the 
family, the foreman, with the consent of the board of directors, may allow 
the advanced pupils to be paid for work done which may be sent in by the 
manufacturers, provided, however, that such work shall in no case interfere 
with the elementary studies. 

C. Iron and steel products 

1. We have also 500 men in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and carry on and 
support special training two weeks alternating in shop and high school. Sys- 
tem has been tried one year and is liked very much.^i 

We are moving away from Chicago on account of our difficulty in secur- 
ing skilled employees. 

2. In over twenty years, we have had a great many college men in our 
employ. Very few of them, however, remained. It was too slow a process 
for them to work in and become a part of our organization. The plan of 
giving alternate weeks to factory work and college study comes pretty nearly 
being ideal. The boys accomplish nearly as much in study as if they had 
given all their time to it, and when they get through they are not suffering 
from the enormous handicap of having the wrong point of view. The boys 
we are using on this plan^^ are very useful in the factory, and I foresee 
nmch greater usefulness from them as time goes on. They are getting 
science with practice, and avoid the monotony of too much of either. I 
believe the scheme is the best that has yet been proposed, and that the boy 
who makes his way through a technical institute on this plan will have found 
an exceedingly pleasant and profitable way, which gives great promise for 
the future. 

3. The trade school would help, but the cooperative shop and school 
course, as introduced by National Metal Trades Association three years ago, 
would be better, giving " commercial " conditions. 

4. We have tried a great many experiments with boys and young men 
in our plant, and, with possibly two exceptions, they have all been more or 
less failures. 

2^ For Fitchburg cooperative plan, see p. 208. 
"* The Lewis Institute Cooperative Course. 



68 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

We have noted that with the advent of moving picture shows, pool rooms 
and other amusement enterprises, there is a large field for young fellows to 
pick up a lot of fairly easy money. Of course their experience prevents them 
from seeing that these positions are at the best temporary, and do not tend 
to building them up for a solid business future. The result is that the aver- 
age young man gets disgusted in a business that offers but a few dollars a 
week to start, and we are, therefore, up against the proposition of constantly 
changing our help. 

We tried out the Lewis Institute experiment very thoroughly last year 
with three or four boys and they all fell down. 

We think that the trouble goes back a little further than to the boys' 
schooling. A large percentage of them make very bad starts right in their 
own homes. 

5. In one of our plants in another city we have made it a practice for 
many years, to secure at least a few of the graduates of the Williamson 
Training School each year.^s These boys are started at $12 a week, which is 
considerably more than they are worth, to begin with, but they demonstrate 
very quickly the value of their preparation, and furnish us material, not only 
for the higher classes of machine and pattern work, but also for sub-foremen 
and foremen. One advantage of the training which the boys in the William- 
son School receive is, that it develops no false ideals, and when the boys 
graduate they look for their future in the shop, and are willing to take their 
chances as greasy-handed mechanics. 

It has been my experience that many of the graduates of schools that 
really are no better than trade schools feel themselves too good to be 
mechanics, and look for advancement in the drafting room, and other of the 
white collar departments. 

At Chicago, at the present time, we are availing ourselves of a special 
course provided by the Lewis Institute, and four of our boys spend alternate 
weeks at the Institute. We have found it a little difficult to keep these boys 
interested, and if this system fails, it is because it will be difficult to keep 
up the boys' interest when part of the time is spent in the shop, and part at 
school. 

The difficulty of getting promising material in Chicago is very much 
larger than it is in the East, and we should be very glad to cooperate in any 
manner to assist in training boys at the critical age, so that they may become 
efficient members of the craft. 

6. We have four boys at Lewis Institute, two alternating each week. 
We also are starting an instruction school to make our men better all-around 
mechanics for future use in the general work of our product. 

7. Yes, we have difficulty in obtaining and in training skilled employees, 
mainly because of their lack of fundamental education and inability to prop- 
erly plan their work. 

8. Trade schools would not help unless there were mathematics and 
mechanical drawing connected with such a school, because in the average 
shop where they go to learn their trade, they get the practical training in 

23 See p. 190. 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 69 

the use of tools and machinery, and I believe such training is better, and 
more thoroughly given in the shop than it can be in the average school. 

9. Trade schools would not help, because we think they had better start 
to work at sixteen ; otherwise they do not want to commence at the bottom 
and so would not learn the trade thoroughly, 

10. Yes, it is hard to get a skilled mechanic to act as foreman ; they 
hate to assume the responsibility. 

11. Our experience has been that the young men of the city who come 
here from the public schools have little or no idea of industrial methods 
or of shop practices and we believe that if these young men were given 
some mechanical training they would be in a far better position to develop 
themselves or at least be more susceptible to our training in actual manufac- 
turing work. 

If there were such a day trade school which would supplement the work 
of the higher grammar grades and first grades of high school it would to 
a very great extent help in supplying the demands for skilled workmen and 
would in our judgment greatly facilitate the power of development in young 
men, placing them where they would be able to attain positions of greater 
trust and importance. We find that those young men who have had oppor- 
tunity to give even a short time to any of the few manual training schools 
now in existence in this city develop much faster in our business and can 
be used in a greater variety of positions by the fact of having this manual 
training education. Many young men start in manufacturing plants and 
learn just one operation, such as running a drill press or a milling machine, 
etc., or learn one line of bench work, but cannot help themselves because 
of a lack of efficiency and of ambition, due to an inability to read specifica- 
tions and interpret blue prints, thus being barred from high grades of work 
and from executive positions in the manufacturing world. 

The practical evening trade schools are of considerable importance and 
do a great deal of good, but do not in any way provide a sufficient number 
of semi-skilled young men to fill positions of importance in our works. If 
the number of these trade schools could be increased, they could in a great 
way assist in supplying the large demand for help of this kind, 

12. Our contracts with the labor unions require us to give the officials 
of each union the opportunity to furnish each new man for the craft con- 
trolled by each respective union. We are required to give union officials 
from twenty-four to forty-eight hours notice before a man is hired. If they 
do not furnish a man in that time we are privileged to secure him elsewhere, 
provided that he is willing to join the union, or else we must dismiss him as 
soon as the imion is able to furnish a man. 

We have the privilege of rejecting men proffered by the union whom we 
consider to be undesirable, but on the other hand are frequently inconve- 
nienced because of our not being able to get men on account of their unwill- 
ingness to join the union, and in some cases because of the unions not being 
willing to admit them into their organizations. This tends to keep a great 
many high grade men out of our factory who might otherwise be employed. 
Many union men are decidedly high grade, hut there are also many who are 



70 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

very medium to whom we must pay high wages. in order to obtain sufficient 
men to turn out our work. 

In some departments we are not allowed by the unions to use the appren- 
tices on work which really teaches them anything. 

It is difficult in departments which are unionized to take a man from the 
ranks and make him a foreman, because of the labor unions. All gang bosses 
and assistant foremen and inspectors must be members of the union and it 
is rather difficult for a man in these positions, from Avhich the foreman should 
be drawn, to be sufficiently loyal to the company to secure a promotion to 
the position of foreman, without incurring the disfavor of his fellow members 
in the union. 

The training in a trade school should not be so intensive that it will 
lovv^er the boy's ideals and make him anxious to use what he has learned 
to make as much money as possible right away instead of simply using it 
as a guide to obtain more experience and deeper knowledge, with the expecta- 
tion of being paid therefor in later years. 

D. Contractors and builders 

1. There is room for vast improvement in the skilled workmen and the 
main trouble lies in the fact that there is no apprentice law governing the 
length of time for serving in any trade. Most of the boys now learning trades 
in the building line are sons of men now at the trade and it is their aim to 
get their sons in possession of a membership card in order to get the higher 
wages, without serving the apprenticeship necessary to make them a finished 
mechanic. Consequently they never get to be more than a rough workman, 
as they have reached as high a standard as they seem to care to attain, 
which is the scale demanded by the union. 

In regard to the trade schools would say that this has been tried by the 
contractors in my line before, and we found great difficulty in getting the 
boys to attend. I think the same amount of time spent in actual attendance 
of the work in the trade they wish to follow would prove to be much better 
than that spent in a trade school. 

2. But while we have a well organized and efficient corps of the skilled 
employees needed in our tugging, dredging and other marine and sub-marine 
work for which we are contractors, our experience is that there is a noticeable 
lack of younger skilled men coming along in these lines, practically all of 
which, as well as all other labor lines covered by our requirements, are 
strongly unionized. 

And this scarcity of these younger skilled men our observation leads us 
to believe is largely attributable to a disposition on the part of the older 
mechanics to afford the younger ones little opportunity and aid in acquiring 
the experience requisite to the acquisition of the degree of ability of the 
elders. 

3. We need foremen who have a better general education and a wider 
outlook. 

4. There is a movement on foot at this time by the Electrical Workers 
to instruct their men more carefully in several branches of the electrical 
business, they having purchased instruments, switchboard and testing appa- 



CONDITIONS IN THE SKILLED INDUSTRIES 71 

ratus, which cost something over $1,000, and they are requiring their mem- 
bership to go to certain set meetings and be instructed and to listen to lec- 
tures on different branches of the electrical work, as could be covered by 
the apparatus which they have furnished, all of which we think is going to 
be of material benefit to our men, and if a school as suggested by you were 
to be established, and we could persuade the men to go, it would be one of 
the best things possible to do. 

5. We have no right to expect others to train our help for us, and if 
each employer would give time and assistance to train his own help, we would 
have all that would be required. 

6. The writer believes it is more important for a young man to realize 
early in life his responsibility as a future citizen, than it is to get a lot of 
information out of books. There is a time in the life of every boy, when he 
wants to be a man, and do a man's work ; if this ambition is provided for 
at that time, he becomes a good citizen; but, if by laws or otherwise, it is 
defeated, it is uphill work to get the habit later on. 

E. Printing 

1. A child should be in school at this age (fourteen to sixteen). Our 
schools should teach elementary trade work, thereby teaching the child toward 
work, instead of away from it, as now. 

2. No. Such a school (preparatory trade school, fourteen to sixteen 
years) would be likely to make the boy careless and indefinite. Such a school 
should be a special trade school, teaching a definite trade a part of the time. 

3. The union scale kills competition in skill as all receive practically the 
same wage for a given department. 

4. The vital point of the whole matter is that where labor unions con- 
trol a trade or control individual offices they will not allow enough appren- 
tices to be instructed to take care of the ordinary demands of that trade, 
and they will not take into their unions men who have received instruction 
otherwise than as the apprenticeship conditions of the different unions provide. 

While a theoretical knowledge of general mechanics from the ages of 
fourteen to sixteen will be of decided benefit to anyone wishing to learn a 
trade, the good workmen in all trades are produced from men who acquire 
their trade in a shop in actual practice, and good workmen generally are made 
from those who were obliged to earn their living at an early age and have 
never had the opportunity of attending any trade or technical schools after 
they are sixteen years of age. 

5. As a rule the union supplies inferior men, because good workmen are 
usually steadily employed. 

6. It would be a godsend to the printing business to have a school where 
boys and girls could be taught the business. 

7. The labor question is the sore thumb of our business. 

F. Jewelry manufacturing 

1. Hardly one workman in ten has the skill and taste required for high- 
grade work. Yes, surely, such a school (fourteen to sixteen) would help. 
Switzerland, Germany and France have attained high rank for their artisans. 



72 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Their workmen are more than mechanics through schools for their early 
training. Training in drawing, modeling, etc., developing the artistic taste, 
would prepare them for the factory, or shop, where they get the mechanical 
training. 

Our trade has depended on Europe for skilled workmen. The time has 
come when we should train them, or we will suffer a lack. We do now. 
In the busiest season we are much behind our opportunities on this account. 

Analysis of the comment of individual employers 

While there is considerable difference of opinion here, there are 
certain uniformities that should be noted. 

In the first place there is a general recognition that present 
schooling has little or no relation to industrial occupations, that in 
the case of many if not most of the children of Chicago who enter 
these occupations, it has failed to give standards of efficiency or 
even adequate general intellectual training. 

In the second place there is a general recognition that occupa- 
tional training in whatever form it is given should be in close relation 
to trade and shop conditions. 

In the third place it is quite widely recognized that in present 
industry the shop alone can not give adequate trade training, 
because work is so highly specialized and does not acquaint the 
apprentice with all processes, thus failing to produce all-round 
workmen and those who can and are willing to take the positions 
and responsibilities of foremen. 

Finally it is evident that the causes of disagreement between 
employers and organized operatives make it very difficult if not 
impossible for them to properly standardize the training of appren- 
tices. Clearly the one who suffers most from this situation is the 
child who does not receive, during the apprenticeship years, the 
intellectual and occupational training which he needs. 

It seems evident that if the demands of industry both on the side 
of the employer and on that of the employed, and at the same time 
the interests of the child be properly safe-guarded, the shop with 
its methods must be taken into the school, and that this recon- 
structed school must set the standards with an eye single to the 
future of the child, and unbiased by the immediate economic inter- 
ests of the employer and the union. 



ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR 73 



CHAPTER IV 

ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR IN CHICAGO 
AND IN OTHER CITIES 



The very favorable attitude exhibited by the Chicago Federation 
of Labor on the question of industrial education under public 
auspices [see pages 74-80] should dispel all misgivings as to the pos- 
sibility of serious hostility on the part of organized labor in Chicago 
to carefully considered provisions for industrial education in the 
public schools, provisions which recognize the interests of labor and 
arrange for the representation of labor in the conduct of such 
schools. Indeed, it is safe to assume, from these results and from 
the experience of other cities, that organized labor in Chicago would 
readily cooperate in an intelligent way with the public-school author- 
ities. This is still further indicated by the cooperation already 
given by unions of carpenters and masons in Chicago with the 
Apprentice Schools in operation since 1901. 

In general it may be said that abundant evidence^ exists to show 
that organized labor throughout the country is not hostile to indus- 
trial education of the right kind. Labor is opposed to industrial 
schools conducted for private profit and providing narrow and super- 
ficial training, and to those controlled by employers and conducted 
solely for the employers' interests and in opposition to labor's inter- 
est. But to public schools which seek the cooperation of organized 
labor and employers alike, and take both into full confidence, which 
provide thorough and practical all-around instruction, organized 
labor is not only not opposed but gives its strong approval and 
cooperation. 

In the case of all industrial schools in other cities visited by the 
committee's representative^, special effort was made to find out 
from the school authorities what attitude was taken toward the 

1 Report on Industrial Education, American Federation of Labor; Report of Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, New York State, 1908, Part I; Annals of American Academy of 
Political and Social Science, January, 1909; Dean: The Worker and the State; Bulletin 
No. 6, National Society for Promotion of Industrial Education. 

2 See Chapters VI and VII. 



74 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

schools by organized labor in the community. In only one case was 
any opposition reported, and that was in connection with a private 
school largely supported by employers' associations. Nor is the 
attitude of organized labor in these cities a purely negative one, 
resulting from lack of information or interest, for, in the case of 
practically all the public industrial schools visited, labor bodies are 
either represented on advisory committees, or have considered plans 
and curricula submitted by the authorities for criticism and advice. 
In Boston an official investigation of industrial schools, covering a 
week's time, Vv^as made by a representative of the Massachusetts 
State Branch of the American Federation of Labor, and a most 
favorable report was returned. 

Attitude of the Chicago Federation of Labor 

The following account of the attitude of the Chicago Federation 
of Labor is taken from the report of its Committee on Schools. 
Since the total membership of the Chicago Federation is about 
225,000^, and since 52.8 per cent of the 214 affiliated local unions 
answered the committee's questions, the results may be said to repre- 
sent the attitude of more* than 118,800 members.^ In the com- 
mittee's letter to the affiliated unions special attention was called to 
the fact that the questions referred to public schools, which were 
designed not to turn out finished mechanics, but to lay a foundation 
and to give '' all-around " training which will make rapid advance- 
ment possible when actual trade work is begun. 

The Committee on Schools of the Chicago Federation of Labor sent the 
following three questions to the 214 affiliated unions : 

1. Do you favor a public industrial or preparatory trade school 
which would endeavor to reach boys and girls between fourteen and six- 
teen, that now leave the common school in very large numbers before 
graduation? Such a school zvould not teach a trade, but would give a 
wide acquaintance with materials and fundamental industrial processes, 

' Statement of a member of the Federation Committee. 

* In the opinion of a member of the Federation Committee, the replies received were 
from the larger affiliated local unions. 

^ In practically all cases the answers were obtained by a vote of the local union, or 
by action of a special committee. The letters sent by the Federation Committee were 
stamped with the official seal of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and the replies received 
were stamped with the official seal of the .iffiliated local unions. The Committee on Schools 
acted under a resolution of the Federation authorizing the investigation. The results 
were reported, as here given, to the Federation in meeting assembled, and were accepted 
by unanimous vote atid ordered published. The report, therefore, represents the official 
action of the Chicago Federation of Labor. 



ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR 



75 



together with drawing and shop mathematics, with the object of giving a 
better preparation for entering the industries at sixteen and better oppor- 
tunities for subsequent advancement? 

2. Do you favor public trade schools for boys and girls between 
sixteen and eighteen, that would give two years of practical training, 
together with drawing and mathematics, provided the graduates of such 
schools should serve two years more as apprentices or improvers? 

3. Do you favor public evening industrial schools giving instruction 
as indicated in questions 1 and 2, and furnishing also supplemental trade 
education for those already at work in the trades during the day? 

Questions 1 and 2 are the same questions, word for word, that were sent 
by the New York State Department of Labor to 2,451 unions in the State of 
New York. 6 A comparison can therefore be made, on these two questions, 
between the attitude of organized labor in Chicago and the attitude of 
organized labor in the State of New York. 

In the letter sent by the Committee to the Chicago local unions, quota- 
tions were made from the Report on Industrial Education by the American 
Federation of Labor, a copy of which was sent to each local union. A 
second and a third letter were sent to those local unions which did not reply 
to the first or second letter. In the second and third letters no reference 
was made to the report of the American Federation of Labor. In all, 117 
replies were received which represent 54 per cent of the total number of 
affiliated local unions. Four of the unions replying did not answer the 
questions. 

The following table shows the number of replies received to each ques- 
tion, the number answering " yes," the number answering " no," and the per 
cent answering " yes " : 



Table 19. — Replies from Chicago Unions 





Number 
replying 


Number answering 


Per cent 




"Yes" 


"No" 


"Yes" 


Question 1 

Question 2 


111 

112 
112 


92 

88 
97 


19 
24 
15 


82.8 
78.5 


Question 3 


86.6 


Total 


335 


277 


58 


82.6 



Table 20 gives the replies to questions 1 and 2 from New York State 
unions, and Table 21 compares these replies with the replies from Chicago 
unions to the same two questions. 

• Report of Bureau of Labor Statistics, New York State, 1908, Part I. 



76 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Table 20. — Replies from New York State Unions 





No. of 

unions 

replying 


Number answering^ 


Per cent 




"Yes" 


"No" 


"Yes" 


Question 1 


1,877 
1,877 


1,523 
1,303 


354 
574 


81.1 


Question 2 


69.4 


Total 


3,754 


2,826 


928 


75.2 



Table 21. — Comparison of Replies from Chicago Unions with Replies 

FROM New York State Unions 



Question 1 
Question 2 

Total . 



Per cent "Yes" 



Chicago unions 



82.8 
78.5 



80.7 



N. Y. State 
unions 



81.1 
69.4 



75.2 



The per cent answering " Yes " is in each case greater for the Chicago 
unions than for the New York State unions. This is probably explained in 
part by the influence on the Chicago unions of the favorable attitude expressed 
by the American Federation of Labor in its Report on Industrial Education, a 
copy of which was sent to the Chicago unions. 

Attitude of skilled workmen 

The attitude of the skilled workman on the question of industrial train- 
ing is, of course, of special importance, because his interests are more directly 
affected by such training, than are those of the unskilled workman. 

On the basis of skill the replies from Chicago unions may be classified, 
more or less accurately, into 77 replies from unions in skilled occupations, 
and 36 from unions in unskilled occupations. Analysis of the total number 
of " No's " received shows that all but 4 came from unions in the skilled 
occupations, as set forth in the following table. 



' The numbers classified in the New York report as " qualified yes " and " qualified 
no " are here counted as " yes " and " no," respectively, to correspond with the classifica- 
tion used for the Chicago replies. 



ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR 
Table 22. — Number of Unions Answering " No "^ 



77 



Question 1 . . 
Question 2 . . 
Question 3 . . 

Total 




The results in Table 22 are what one would naturally expect — that the 
opposition which is shown by organized labor to industrial schools should 
come mainly from the skilled occupations. The replies also show, however, 
that about 80 per cent of the unions in the skilled occupations answered 
" Yes " to question 1, about 74 per cent answered " Yes " to question 2, and 
about 83 per cent to question 3. 

The attitude of the carpenters and joiners may be of special importance 
because of their interest in the Apprentice Schools for carpenters conducted 
by the public-school authorities. Of the nine carpenters' unions replying, 
two were not sufficiently interested to answer the questions, one way or the 
other. Of the remaining seven, all answered " Yes " to question 3 ; all 
but one answered " Yes " to question 1, and all but two answered " Yes " to 
question 2. 

Comments of individual unions 

The letter addressed to the local unions contained the statement that 
the Committee on Schools of the Chicago Federation of Labor would wel- 
come any suggestions or comments which the local union cared to make 
on any of the questions or on the general subject. In response to this state- 
ment a number of very intelligent and discriminating comments were 
received. All of the comments which seemed to have significance are here 
quoted, regardless of which side of the question is favored. 

Thirty-four quotations in all are given. The comments are arranged in 
groups, each group being more or less homogeneous. Special attention is 
called to the comments in group VI, which refer to the status of trade-school 
graduates and to the importance of securing State legislation regulating 
apprenticeship conditions. 

Group I 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Yes ; we are always glad to see the boys and girls get the 
chance to help themselves. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Yes; if you make all-around mechanics of them, not spe- 
cialists. 

* The unions regarded as in skilled occupations, in Table 22, are: bakers and con- 
fectioners, blacksmiths and helpers, carpenters and joiners, carriage and wagon workers, 
cigarmakers, coopers, gardeners and florists, garmentworkers, lithographers, painters and 
decorators, photoengravers, piano workers, printers, pressmen (printing), sheet-metal 
workers, tailors, watch-case engravers, two joint councils or assemblies, and one unknown 
union. The unions regarded as in unskilled occupations are: bartenders, beer bottlers, 
mailers, lake seamen and switchmen. 



78 REPORT OX VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

Q. 1. Yes; provided it would not be made an excuse for trying "fads"' 
on the children. 

Q. 2, 3. Yes ; provided cultural studies be not eliminated from the course 
of stud}', and that these schools be conducted in the same buildings and in 
connection with the common school. 

Q. 1. Xo ; because it would make for enslavement of children. 

Q. 1. Xo ; we favor a high-school education for all children. 

Q. 2. Yes ; provided such education is included in high-school course. 

Group II 

Q. 3. Yes; but would it be fair to require the tired youngsters to study 
after perhaps a big day's work? 

Q. 3. If the youngsters work during the day it would do them little 
good to attend evening schools. 

Q. 3. Xo; they work too many hours as it is. 

Group III 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Your communication in reference to Industrial Education 
did not seem to appeal to our local and same was ordered received and filed 
at one of our large meetings. It seems as though the workers do not care to 
take up such matters unless some effect of same concerns them, directly injur- 
ing them in following their trade. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Regarding enclosed folder, beg to say the carpenters of this 
local are not interested in this question, as they have a school of their own 
in which all apprentices must go three months every year. This goes to 
show anyway that they are in favor of industrial schools to a certain extent- 

O. 1, 2, 3. We are somewhat embarrassed to full}- comprehend the real 
purpose of the proposition. We realize that some kind of system should be 
adopted whereby the workers of our community- v.ould have equal opportunitj- 
to give their children such education as will compensate them equivalently 
for their outlay. The question of a school for boys and girls betvveen the 
ages of sixteen and eighteen seems somewhat beyond the possibility of the 
workman to afford. On this question our suggestion would be to have it 
along the lines of municipal ownership. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. I do not think many of us have much knov/ledge of the sub- 
ject, and so give j'ou the opinion for what it is worth. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. These questions were endorsed by our local, but knowledge 
of the subject seems limited. 

Group IV 

Q. 1. Yes. O. 2, 3. Yes ; provided the teachers of the various crafts had 
worked at least three years as journejTnen at the crafts they taught; other- 
wise, no. 

Q. 2. Yes ; if under supervision of mechanics affiliated with labor unions. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Not until we voters can have representatives on the school 
board. 

Q. 1. Yes; provided organized labor has voting majority in Board of 
Education. 



ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR 79 

Q. 1, 2. No ; because the interests would see to it that no education 
would be given to the pupils along trades-union lines. 

Q, 1, 2, 3. iVo; for the reason that such an institution would be simply 
placing organized labor in greater jeopardy than at present; for you must 
realize that it would not be possible to instil any of the principles of unionism 
into such students — in fact, even the mention of such ideas would meet 
with the strongest of opposition; therefore we would urge action against the 
establishment of such a public institution. 

Would suggest the establishment of schools on such lines by the inter- 
national bodies of the different trades — the same to be so conducted as to 
permit of evening sessions, and no doubt but what they v/ould be attended 
by a class of students who really would have a desire to learn a trade and 
become proficient in it. 

Group V 

Q. 1, 2, 3. Yes ; provided these schools are conducted for the benefit of 
boys and girls only, and not to be used as a profit system for somebody else. 

Q. 2. Yes ; provided it is not made a breeding bed for scabs. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. We believe that the industrial school will develop into a 
recruiting station for the unfair employer. 

Q. 1, 2. Do not favor this kind of school because it v.^ould cause an 
over-production of skilled mechanics. 

Q. 1, 2, 3. No. We do not think it advisable to use public money to 
play into the hand of the manufacturers. Those Vv'hose children would be 
able to attend a free trade school, as a rule, are also able to pay for that 
instruction. 

Q. 2. No. We believe it unwise to permit school boards to establish 
trade schools, because if a certain kind of men, interested in a certain kind 
cf employment, obtained control of the schools, our schools would simply be 
used to turn out a surplus of labor for the trades in wdiich certain employers 
sought to cheapen labor. 

Group VI 

Q. 2. Yes ; but would make the term apprenticeship three years, to con- 
form to the present laws of organizations making the apprenticeship end at 
age of twenty-one years. 

Q. 2. No ; all graduates should serve their full time under regulated 
union laws. 

Q. 3. Yes ; to those holding membership in a recognized union. 

Q. 2. No ; blacksmiths rule that an apprentice must serve four consecu- 
tive years at practical work. 

Q. 2. No ; because we have found it detrimental to our apprentice sys- 
tem, which requires four years of practical training. 

Q. 2. Yes ; provided that no employer shall employ them as full-fledged 
craftsmen, such to be prohibited by an act of legislature. 

Q. 1, 2. We do not believe that the present laws are such as to make 
public trade schools giving instructions, as set forth in questions 1 and 2, 
advisable from an organization point of viev/. It is worthy of note that every 



80 REPORT OX VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

branch of industry so supplied b}' schools is over-run with student workmen, 
little or no organization, small wages, etc. 

On the other hand, if an approved apprentice term can be enforced, 
making such term a necessity by law, before entering the trades, we believe 
that much good would result from such teaching as set forth in question 1, 
enforcing said term to protect labor organizations in case of strike or lockout, 
when there would be a great temptation for the bosses to work these near- 
mechanics. 

We urge careful consideration before disposing of this matter, as it is a 
subject of vast importance to union labor movement. 

Attitude of labor leaders in Chicago 

In addition to the above report of the Chicago Federation of 
Labor, the following specific statements of labor's attitude, taken 
from articles by three of Chicago's citizens prominent in the ranks 
of labor, will be of interest., 

1. By Luke Grant, Labor Editor, Chicago Record-Herald.^ 

The specialization of industry is rapidly dehumanizing the worker. When 
he makes a certain part of a machine he does not in his mind see a picture 
of the finished product, as did the all-around mechanic in the days before 
we had specialization in industry. 

You who have not had the actual experience cannot appreciate the real 
pleasure it gives a workman to look at a piece of work he has done well. 
He takes as much pleasure in looking at a piece of perfect mechanical work 
as the painter does in admiring a fine picture, or the writer does in reading 
a good book. This is a phase of the problem which should have attention, 
as well as the phase dealing with increased productivity. If it does not, we 
will in the near future have a class of workers mentally and morally deficient, 
and a class of work that will not stand in competition in the markets of the 
world. 

This forms what I mean by the " human side " of the problem. If indus- 
trial education and trade schools will serve to give the boy that thorough 
and complete knowledge of the trade, which he is denied in the modern fac- 
tory and workshop, I am satisfied you will find no opposition on the part of 
the wage-earner. You will receive his hearty cooperation and support, for 
the skilled mechanic cannot help feeling a pang as he sees his trade disap- 
pearing. 

Let us unite to do all in our power to lessen the cost of production, but 
let us not forget that if we cheapen product at the expense of the health and 
mental view of our workers, the ends will not justify the means. 

^ Taken from Bulletin No. 6, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion. 



ATTITUDE OF ORGANIZED LABOR 81 

2. By W. B. Prescott, Secretary, International Typographical 
Union Commission on Supplemental Trade Education, Chicago.^^ 

For employing printers to say they would thoroughly " teach " a boy 
the trade was largely a figure of speech; with few exceptions they could 
not if they would, as they lacked the facilities. The boy would be turned 
over to a foreman or superintendent, who is always harassed with demands 
that he reduce the cost of production, and who in turn is ever urging those 
under him to greater effort or devising plans to meet the insistent demand 
for an increased output. 

In these circumstances it is not surprising that the foreman's chief desire 
is not to teach the boy the trade, but to discover how he can be used most 
profitably. If the boy shows special aptness for some simple operation, his 
" apprenticeship " too often consists in doing that one thing. If he acquires 
a general knowledge of the trade, it is as best he may by the rule of thumb. 

This system has been producing so-called specialists, and some are 
inclined to say it is all right in an age of specialists, as they point to this 
lawyer or that physician or financier who has had unbounded success by 
following a specialty in his profession. They forget that the physician is 
first well grounded in the principles and practice of medicine, and the attor- 
ney in the principles of law, before selecting their specialties. That general 
knowledge is of great assistance to them. The workman trained in the 
manner just described may be a specialist at his trade, but it is because that 
one operation is the extent of his knowledge of his vocation. In the highly 
specialized trades the dread dead line, or age limit, is placed at an early 
year, and precarious employment is the rule. Not being transferable from 
one class of work to another, this kind of " specialist " is the victim of the 
greatest blight that can come athwart a wage-earner's life — unsteady employ- 
ment. While the old apprenticeship system was decaying the quality of the 
printed page was improving. The improvement is due in great measure to 
the influence of commercial artists who design work to the last detail, which 
the artisan copies with more or less fidelity. This precludes even the most 
capable compositors exercising their ingenuity or skill, thereby reducing 
them to the grade of mere copyists, which is fatal to the development of 
originality or mental growth. 

The International Typographical Union has been included in the general 
denunciation of trade unions for being opposed to technical education. 
Frankly, it is opposed to many of the schemes being fostered under the cloak 
of trade education. It is opposed to educational efforts that are more intent 
on making money for their promoters than on benefiting the scholars. It 
is also opposed to schools that graduate inferior workmen. The typograph- 
ical union holds it to be folly to erect special machinery to entice men or 
boys to take up trades that are already overcrowded. In short, the union 
contends — and it knows — that there is no dearth of mechanics and artisans, 
but the great army of them are not as skillful as is desirable. This is not 
their fault, nor that of their employers, but of industrialism. In helping 

"Taken from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
January, 1909. 

7 



82 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

these to better things, the union believes it is subserving the interests of the 
individual, the craft and society, and that is v^rhy the union printers of the 
United States and Canada are spending approximately $15,000 a year to 
advance the interests of supplemental trade education, 

3. By John Fitzpatrick, President of the Chicago Federation of 
Labor,^^ 

I am in favor generally of industrial education. I believe that all trades 
can be taught, and consider that the aim of the trade school should be to 
give the best preparatory and practical education possible. 

The question as to how far the trade schools can give preparation for 
the trade can only be determined by experience. 

I would have all trade schools open to all — sex, creed, color or nation- 
ality should not debar any one. I favor preparatory trade-school work under 
public auspices, but do not favor trade schools conducted by manufacturing 
concerns. I deprecate certain schools now organized; referring in this to 
correspondence and other trade schools, which cannot give practical education, 
and because of this deceive both the student and the employer. 



The American Federation of Labor 

The following quotation from the Report on Industrial Educa- 
tion, by the American Federation of Labor, also throws light on 
labor's attitude. 

We believe that as much attention should be given to the proper educa- 
tion of those who are at work in our industries as is now given to those who 
prepare to enter professional and managerial careers, simply to balance jus- 
tice and make it necessary to give to the wage-earning classes and the com- 
mon industries such equivalent as we can for what the present schools are 
doing for the wealthier classes, as well as for the professional and managing 
vocations. 

Our movement in advocating industrial education protests most emphat- 
ically against the elimination from our public school system of any line of 
learning now taught. Education, technically or industrially, must be sup- 
plementary to and in connection with our modern school system. That for 
which our movement stands will tend to make better workers of our future 
citizens, better citizens of our future workers. 



" Taken from Bulletin No. 3, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Edu- 
cation. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 83 



CHAPTER V 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN CHICAGO 



This chapter presents — I, a description, with comments, of pub- 
lic industrial schools and courses in Chicago; II, an outline state- 
ment of present provisions for public industrial education in day- 
schools in Chicago and in five other cities, viewing each city as a 
whole ; and III, a description of some private industrial schools in 
Chicago. All the schools described were visited by the writer. 

I. Public Industrial Schools and Courses 

High Schools 

1. In the Chicago high schools four years of manual or techni- 
cal training are offered in each of three schools. In eleven other 
high schools one year of manual training is offered at present. The 
school administration is working toward the plan of having the first 
two years of manual training and vocational courses in all high 
schools except the three technical high schools, which " will receive 
those pupils only who wish to continue their vocational work after 
two years and will give them advanced technical training beyond 
that now offered in the technical high schools of Chicago."^ 

Before the school year of 1910-11 the work of the three technical 
high schools was in what may be regarded as a stage of transition 
from purely manual training work to truly technical work.^ For, 
in the first place, a considerably larger portion of the school time^ 
has been given to shopwork and dravvang than is given to these sub- 
jects in the usual manual-training school,* and yet this amount 
of time is not sufficient to adequately meet the needs of technical 
education in the high school. 

^ Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1910. 

2 The distinction here made between the manual-training high school and the truly 
technical high school is about the same as that presented in the report on The Place of 
Industries in Public Education, by a committee of the National Council of Education, 
July, 1910. 

8 From two-fifths to one-half, in the scientific course. In this statement, and simi- 
larly throughout the report, the time devoted to physical training, study, opening exercises, 
and music, is not counted in computing the relative amounts of time given to shopwork 
and drawing, on the one hand, and to academic subjects, on the other. 

* For a statement of the amount of time given to manual work in 159 high schools, 
see page 87 of the report mentioned in note 2, above. 



84 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRALMNG 

In the second place, the shopwork differs from that done in the 
usual manual training high school, in that the projects made partake 
less of the character of mere " exercises " and more of the character 
of articles of real use. 

In addition to the usual manual training " exercises," pieces of furniture, 
and articles for ornament, the following objects for more practical use were 
made in one technical high school in 1909-10 : 6 speed lathes, 1 two-cylinder 
engine, 20 metal counting slates for blind children, 3 metal clock faces for 
neighboring school, electric motors (complete), 35 molder's benches (iron), 
turning chisels, machine tools, and various parts of machines. For the year 
1910-11, machinery and furniture to the value of $3,000 to $5,00 was being 
made for the Board of Education. 

In another technical high school the following products were under con- 
struction in 1909-10: 6 speed lathes, 12 jack screws, 6 high-speed drill- 
presses, 13 marine engines, electric motor, 2 rheostats, iron pulleys, machine 
tools, and various parts of machines. 

In the third technical high school comparatively little work of the above 
character is done. 

It should be added, that a semester course has been given in the 
fourth year, in elementary engineering or electrical construction, 
which is technical in character. 

In the third place, comparatively little has been done in relating 
the academic instruction to the shopwork and to industrial needs. 

Only one of the three technical high schools, so far as could be learned, 
has done definitely planned work of this kind in day classes. The principal 
of this school states that about one-fourth of the compositions in English 
classes are based on shop and industrial subjects. These compositions are 
criticized by the shop instructor and by the English instructor. Outside read- 
ing is assigned on the lives of great inventors, discoverers, and explorers- 
In physiography about six weeks is given to a study of trees and ores. The 
study of trees includes elementary forestry, the structure of the various 
woods used in the school, and the location of the forest regions of the world. 
The work on ores includes an examination of the samples of iron ores, the 
locations of ore beds, smelters, rolling mills, coal fields, shipping routes, 
and the making of steel and coke. 

In the night classes of this school some interesting work is given in shop 
mathematics, including mensuration, speed of pulleys and gearing, gearing of 
the lathe and screw thread calculations, calculations of spur, bevel, spiral and 
worm gearing; speed of machine tools, elementary principles of graphic 
statics, elements of theory of stresses as applied to machine design, use of 
tables of natural -functions and of logarithms in shop calculations ; the slide 
rule. 

2. With the inauguration of the two-year vocational courses in 
September, 1910, the Chicago high schools begin to ofifer instruction 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 85 

distinctly industrial in character. These two-year courses are a 
part of a completely revised curriculum for the high schools which 
went into effect the second semester of 1910-11. There are 21 
courses of study in the revised curriculum, 11 being four-year courses 
and 10 two-year courses.^ 

Of the four-year courses, five may be regarded as vocational : 
one commercial — the business course ; and four industrial courses 
— manual training, builders, household arts, architectural. The 
particular subjects offered in the manual training and builders' 
courses are as follows : 

7. — Manual Training Course 

FIRST YEAR 

First Semester: Weeks Periods Credits 

English 20 4 .4 

Woodworking 20 10 .5 

Mechanical drawing 20 4 .3 

Freehand drawing 20 1 .05 

Algebra 20 4 .4 

Physiology 20 5 .4 

Physical education 20 2 .1 

30 2.15 

Second Semester: 

English 20 4 .4 

Woodworking 20 10 .5 

Mechanical drawing 20 4 .3 

Freehand drawing 20 1 .05 

Algebra 20 4 .4 

Physiography (with special reference to 

woods and ores) 20 5 .4 

Physical education 20 2 .1 

30 2.15 

SECOND YEAR 

First Semester: 

English 20 4 .4 

Foundry, forge and patternmaking 20 10 .5 

Mechanical drawing 20 4 .3 

Plane geometry 20 4 .4 

Physical education 20 2 .1 



24 1.7 

' For the sake of completeness, the commercial courses are included in the discussion 
which follows. 



Periods 


Credits 


4 


.4 


10 


.5 


4 


.3 


4 


.4 


2 


.1 


24 


1.7 


5 


1.0 


5 


1.0 


6 


1.0 


6 


1.0 



86 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Second Semester: Weeks 

English 20 

Foundry, forge and patternmaking 20 

Mechanical drawing 20 

Plane geometry 20 

Physical education 20 



Choose one of the following: 

Foreign language 40 

Biology 40 

Elementary physics 40 

^Chemistry 40 

THIRD YEAR 

First Semester: 

Machine-shop practice 20 

English 20 

Freehand drawing 20 

Mathematics 20 

Physics 20 

Physical education 20 



Second Semester: 

Machine-shop practice 20 

Machine or architectural drawing 20 

Freehand drawing 20 

Physics 20 

Mathematics 20 

Physical education 20 



Choose one of the following: 

History 40 

Language 40 



FOURTH YEAR 

First Semester: 

United States history 20 4 .4 

Machine or architectural drawing 20 3 .2 

English 20 4 .4 

Physical education 20 2 .1 



8 


.4 


4 


.4 


1 


.05 


4 


.4 


6 


.5 


2 


.1 


25 


1.85 


8 


.4 


4 


.3 


1 


.05 


6 


.5 


4 


.4 


2 


.1 


25 


1.75 


4 


.4 


5 


1.0 



13 1.1 

* If chemistry is not taken now it must be taken in the fourth year. 



Periods 


Credits 


4 


A 


3 


.2 


4 


.4 


2 


.1 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 87 

Second Semester: Weeks 

Civics 20 

Machine or architectural drawing 20 

Trigonometry 20 

Physical education 20 

13 1.1 

Electives: 

Chemistry 40 6 1.0 

Language 40 5 1.0 

English 20 4 .4 

Electrical or gas engine construction 40 6 1.0 

Electrical or gas engine construction 20 4 .4 

Freehand drawing 40 6 .8 

Advanced physics 20 6 .5 

Advanced chemistry 20 6 .5 

One semester of English must be chosen during this year by 
those who have not taken a foreign language. 



8. — Builders' Course 

FIRST YEAR 

First Semester: Weeks Periods 

Business English 20 4 

Mensuration geometry 20 4 

Physiology 20 5 

Architectural drawing 20 4 

Carpentry 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 



29 

Second Semester: 

Business English 20 4 

Mensuration geometry 20 4 

Freehand drawing 20 4 

Mechanical drawing 20 4 

Carpentry 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 

28 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

SECOND YEAR 

First Semester: Weeks Periods 

Business English 20 4 

Arithmeiic and bookkeeping 20 4 

Chemistry 20 6 

Architectural drawing 20 4 

Bricklaying, masonry, etc 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 

30 
Second Semester: 

Business English 20 4 

Arithmetic and bookkeeping 20 4 

Chemistry 20 6 

Architectural drawing 20 4. 

Bricklaying, masonry, etc 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 



_, _ THIRD YEAR 

First Semester: 



30 



English 20 4 

Mathematics, including trigonometry and surveying. . 20 4 

Physics 20 6 

Architectural drawing 20 4 

Metal work 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 

30 
Second Semester: 

English 20 4 

Mathematics, including trigonometry and surveying. . 20 4 

Physics 20 6 

Architectural drawing 20 4 

Metal work 20 10 

Physical education 20 2 

30 
FOURTH YEAR 

First Semester: 

Sanitation 20 4 

Building specifications and estimating 20 4 

Industrial history 20 4 

Electrical wiring 20 10 

Freehand drawing 20 4 

Physical education 20 2 

28 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 89 

Second Semester: Weeks Periods 

Strength of materials 20 4 

Building contracts and ordinances 20 4 

Industrial history 20 4 

Electrical wiring 20 10 

Freehand drawing 20 4 

Physical education 20 2 



28 

Comment. The distinctive features of the four industrial 
courses are : 

(1) A slight increase in the amount of time given to shopwork 
and drawing.^ 

(2) The "industrialized" character of some of the academic 
subjects, such as industrial history, business English, civic and 
industrial Chicago. 

With repect to both of these features there is evident an effort 
to make the four courses truly vocational in character. If, how- 
ever, they are to reach their full development, the close relation of 
the academic subjects to industrial needs should be carried to still 
other subjects than those indicated in the present outlines. If the 
physics, chemistry and mathematics are to be of the greatest service 
in the industrial courses, the content of these subjects should be 
closely adapted to the particular needs in the different courses. 

Under present conditions it is difficult to organize the subjects 
of history, mathematics and science in their direct application to 
industrial needs. This is partly due to a lack of suitable text and 
reference books, and to the prevailing influence of college entrance 
requirements on secondary school curricula. But the need and the 
opportunity for such instruction in technical high-school courses 
are both very great. Some schools are now making commendable 
efforts in this direction."^ 

In the household arts course, something less than half the time 
is given to handwork, including art, an increase of only two periods 
a week over former courses. This is less time than is given to these 
subjects in the industrial courses for girls in the high schools at 

' An average of about 51 per cent of the school time in the revised manual-training 
course, as compared with 45 per cent in the former scientific course, 

' Reference is here made to subjects of study outlined in Chapter VIII of this report, 
and to outlines of mathematics, physiography and English, prepared at the Lane Technical 
High School, Chicago. 



90 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Boston, Cleveland and Cincinnati [see pages 193-195]. These cities 
also provide for specialization in the last two or three years of the 
course, in order to prepare definitely for the vocations open to girls. 
No specialization is offered in the corresponding course in Chicago. 

In the manual training course the time given to shop and draw- 
ing is still somewhat less than in the Cincinnati and Cleveland 
courses,^ and the opportunity for specialization is not so great.® In 
Cincinnati the usual four years of manual training is completed in 
the first two years, five-eighths of the school time being given to shop 
and drawing. In the last two years students specialize in some trade 
as apprentices, spending alternate w^eeks in factory and school, the 
shopwork for the week in school being specialized. The same gen- 
eral plan is followed in Cleveland, the usual four years of manual 
training being completed in the first two and one-third years. Both 
Cincinnati and Cleveland require a longer school v/eek for the tech- 
nical courses than Chicago requires. In the Chicago manual training 
course 21 to 25 hours (60 minutes each) a week are required, as 
compared with 30 in Cleveland and 25^ in Cincinnati. 

The builders' course is the only four-year course of that charac- 
ter in public high schools of the country, so far as the writer knows. 
By giving introductory shopwork in a number of the building trades, 
with related academic subjects and drawing, the course prepares 
primarily for positions as foreman, superintendent or general con- 
tractor. From 50 to 57 per cent of the time is devoted to shopwork 
and drawing. As outlined, it is an excellent example of a course in 
which the academic subjects are closely related to the constructive 
industries. In chemistry and physics, the outlines do not indicate 
whether the subject-matter is to be presented in terms of its appli- 
cation to the building industries, but the opportunity for such appli- 
cation is especially good in these subjects. 

The architectural course prepares for work in architecture and 
in drafting-rooms, and gives from two-fifths to one-half of the 
school time to shopwork, drawing and architectural design. Shop- 
work is offered in the first year only. 

In the business course the subjects offered are as follows : 



8 See pp. 193,105. 

" The only specialization now offered is in electrical or gas-engine construction in the 
fourth year. This subject may be taken as a year-subject, 6 periods a week, or as a 
semester-subject, as formerly offered, 4 periods a week. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 91 

6. — Business Course 

FIRST YEAR 

First Semester: Weeks Periods Credits 

Business English 20 4 .4 

Business arithmetic 20 4 .4 

Physiology 20 5 .4 

Drawing 20 4 .3 

Business forms and penmanship 20 2 .15 

Physical education 20 2 .1 

Second Semester: 

Business English 20 4 .4 

Business arithmetic 20 4 .4 

Civic and industrial Chicago 20 5 .4 

Drawing 20 4 .3 

Business forms and penmanship 20 2 .15 

Physical education 20 2 .1 



SECOND YEAR 

First Semester: 

Business English 20 

Commercial geography 20 

Business methods and office practice 20 

Drawing 20 

Physical education 20 

Second Semester: 

Business English 20 

Commercial geography 20 

Drawing 20 

Physical education 20 



21 1.75 



4 


.4 


5 


.4 


4 


.3 


4 


.3 


2 


.1 


19 


1.5 


4 


.4 


5 


.4 


4 


.3 


2 


.1 



15 1.2 



Bookkeeping (one-half year) is required for those not intend- 
ing to take bookkeeping in the third or fourth year in the voca- 
tional courses. 



_. _ THIRD YEAR 

First Semester: 

English 20 4 .4 

Industrial history 20 4 .4 

Physical education 20 2 .1 



10 



Periods 


Credits 


4 


.4 


4 


.4 


2 


.1 



92 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Second Semester: Weeks 

English 20 

Industrial history 20 

Physical education 20 

10 .9 

Choose from the list of optional studies enough to complete 
four credits for the year's work : at least .8 credits each semester 
must be for commercial studies. 



FOURTH YEAR 

First Semester: Weeks 

English 20 

Economics and commercial law 20 

United States history and civics 20 

Physical education 20 



Second Semester: 

English 20 

Economics and commercial law 20 

United States history and civics 20 

Physical education 20 



Periods 


Credi 


4 


.4* 


4 


.4 


4 


A 


2 


.1 


14. 


1.3 


4 


.4 


4 


.4 


4 


.4 


2 


.1 



14 1.3 



Choose from the list of optional studies enough to complete 
four credits for the year's work : at least .8 credits each semester 
must be for commercial studies. 

The time given to mathematics in the business course is less than 
half as much as is given to this subject in the first two years in the 
Cleveland High School of Commerce.^^ In the Cleveland school 
attention is given to mental arithmetic, rapid calculation and pen- 
manship incidentally throughout the entire course. 

In the third and fourth years of the business course at least .8 
credits each semester must be for commercial subjects listed with 
the general group of optional studies for all courses. A clearer idea 
of the content of the business course would be obtained by parents 
and pupils if the technical subjects, as accounting, stenography, etc., 
which should form the backbone of the course, were given a more 
definite place in the outline of the course. 

" Course of Study, 1909. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 93 

3. The two-year vocational courses are open to graduates of the 
eighth grade only, and are intended mainly for students who can 
not give four years to a general high-school education, but who can 
give two years to training along definite vocational lines. It is 
expected by the school authorities that these courses will attract to 
the high school a considerable number of students who would not 
otherwise enter. Full credit is allowed toward graduation from a 
regular four-year course, in case students decide to continue beyond 
the two years. 

The following ten courses are offered: 12, accounting; 13, 
stenography; 14, mechanical drawing; 15, design; 16, advanced 
carpentry; 17, patternmaking ; 18, machine-shop work; 19, elec- 
tricity; 20, household arts; and 21, printing. The first two may be 
regarded as commercial and the remaining courses as industrial in 
character. 

The particular subjects offered in patternmaking and in elec- 
tricity are as follows : 

17. — Two-year Course in Patternmaking 

FIRST YEAR 

Weeks Periods 

Business English 40 4 

Shop mathematics 40 4 

Shop : 

(a) General woodv^ork (one semester) 

(b) Elementary patternmaking (one semester) . 40 10 

Mechanical drawing 40 4 

Physiology (first semester) 20 5 

Freehand drawing (second semester) 20 4 

Physical education 40 2 



29 
or 

SECOND YEAR 28 

English or other modern language 40 4 

Geometry, or history with special reference to indus- 
trial and economic conditions, and civics 40 4 

Shop — Foundry and advanced patternmaking 40 12 

Mechanical drawing 40 4 

Freehand dravving 40 2 

Physical education 40 2 

28 



94 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

19, — Two-year Course in Electricity 

FIRST YEAR 

Weeks Periods 

Business English 40 4 

Algebra 40 4 

Science : 

Physiology (first semester) 20 5 

Elementary physics (first semester) 20 5 

Elementary electricity (second semester) 20 8 

Mechanical drawing 40 4 

Freehand drawing 40 2 

Physical education 40 2 



SECOND YEAR 



26 
or 
24 



English or other modern language 40 4 

Geometry, or history with special reference to indus- 
trial and economic conditions, and civics 40 4 

Applied electricity 40 10 

Mechanical drawing 40 4 

Freehand drawing 40 2 

Physical education 40 2 

26 

The distinctive features of the two-year industrial courses are : 

(1) The large portion of time (from one-half to two-thirds) ^^ 
allotted to shop work and drawing ; 

(2) The specialization in a particular trade required from the 
beginning ; 

(3) The ''industrialized" character of some of the academic 
courses, such as shop mathematics, business English, and industrial 
history. 

Comment. With respect to the first and third features mentioned 
above, the courses compare favorably with industrial courses in 
other cities. It should be noted that industrial geography is not 
offered in any of the courses, and that technical instruction in applied 
science is provided for in only one course^^ — in electricity. 

" Except the courses in design and in household arts which give to handwork, includ- 
ing art, something less than half of the school time. 

^^ Unless the biology offered in the household arts courses is to be organized as applied 
biology. The half year of science in certain other courses is understood to be physiography, 
according to the statements of principals and teachers. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 95 

With respect to the second feature it should be noted that the 
subjects in each course are closely related to a particular trade. The 
courses differ, therefore, from the usual technical high-school 
courses which give an all-around shop training before specialization 
is permitted. They differ also from the trade course proper, which 
in common practice gives very little instruction in related academic 
subjects. They may, therefore, be regarded as technical courses 
restricted to a particular trade. 

No other public high school, so far as the writer knows, offers 
technical courses so restricted. ^^ The present practice is to give an 
all-around technical training for at least two or three years before 
specialization is permitted. Certain private schools^* offer technical 
courses restricted to a particular trade, but the students are com- 
monly sixteen years of age or older when entering upon these 
courses, and the schools operate under conditions which enable them 
to secure a rather select body of students. 

In the Chicago two-year courses the student is asked to specialize 
— to choose his trade — when he enters the high school, and this 
specialization is required on the basis of no previous shop training 
other than the elementary woodwork of the grades, Vv^hich is not 
vocational in purpose. There is in general no objection to a boy 
specializing in a trade whenever he is mature enough to do the work 
and to really know what he wants to do. Whether or not there are 
many such students in the first year of high school remains to be 
seen.^^ Surely, for those who have not reached that stage of 
maturity by the first year of high school, the two years of all-around 
practical training, as provided in Cincinnati, ^^ would be more desir- 
able even if the last two years of specialized work are not taken 
in school. 

As stated before, the two-year courses are planned for students 

^3 See section 5, p. 193 ff. The two-year courses in St. Louis can hardly be called 
technical courses, since they merely permit the individual pupil, on the approval of the 
principal, to lengthen his school day by doing additional work of the usual manual-training 
and domestic art type. 

" The Williamson School of Trades, the Carnegie School for Apprentices and Jour- 
neymen, and the Wilmerding School of Mechanical Arts. 

^^ Forty-seven and four-tenths per cent of the boys in the first year of all Chicago high 
schools were fourteen years of age or under, 30.8 per cent were fifteen, and 21.6 per cent 
w'ere sixteen or over, according to the Superintendent's Report, 1909. The percentage in 
the older group would probably be about 16.4, if taken in the preceding September when 
the selection of courses is made. Hence, about 85 per cent of the boys entering high school 
in September were under sixteen years of age, which is the minimum age at which spe- 
cialization is commonly begun. 

1® See p. 195. 



96 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

who can not give more than two years to a high-school course. The 
number of these is very likely not so great as is sometimes supposed. 
The tacit assumption frequently made that most pupils who leave 
school in the intermediate grades do so because they can not afford 
to continue is not supported by evidence. Indeed, the evidence that 
exists [see pages 36-89] lends color to the assumption that they leave 
because the school does not provide the kind of training needed. It 
is probable that many of those who now drop out in the first year 
or two of the high school would remain for a four-year course if 
they understood that the training of those four years was not mainly 
a preparation for more training in college, but was a true finishing 
course preparing definitely for a life career after high school. 

It is, therefore, pertinent to inquire whether what is wanted on 
the high-school level is a short course so much as it is a course that 
is very practical. The present four-year course in manual training 
provides for those who go on to college and for those who are inter- 
ested in manual training for general educational purposes, regard- 
less of specific training for industrial pursuits. For those students, 
however, who desire to enter the industries at once after four years 
in the high school, the present manual training course does not make 
adequate provision. Courses like those in Cincinnati and Cleve- 
land,^' with specialization in the last two years, are desirable. It is 
just this specialization in the last two years, on the basis of an all- 
around training in the first two years, which makes these courses the 
finishing courses needed by those who are to enter the industries at 
once upon completion of the high school. 

The question is whether a course like that at Cincinnati or Cleve- 
land would not hold for the full four years many of those who are 
now supposed to be unable to remain longer than two years. For 
those who are really unable to remain the four years, provision could 
be made by relating the instruction in each year of the four-year 
course so closely to industrial needs that each year's work is a unit 
of definite practical value to those who leave at the end of that year. 
Furthermore, the opportunity to specialize at various points in the 
course could also be given to students whose maturity, financial con- 
dition, and prerequisite training make such specialization desirable. 

The main point here in mind is that the two-year industrial 

^' See pp. 193, 195. Tlie experience of Cleveland indicates that such courses might also 
in time be generally endorsed by colleges as providing satisfactory preparation for college 
technical courses. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 



97 



courses provide for the relatively small number who, upon gradu- 
ation from the eighth grade, have the necessary maturity and the 
prerequisite training to profit by the specialized courses offered, and 
who are really unable for financial reasons to remain longer than 
two years. In providing a more practical kind of instruction than 
heretofore offered, the two-year courses are undoubtedly a step in 
advance and as such are to be commended. That they may fill a 
present need must be admitted. It is here contended, however, that 
this need is comparatively small and that the greatest need in the 
high school is for a four-year course of the kind referred to, still 
more practical as a finishing course than the present four-year 
course. An appropriate degree of flexibility in such a four-year 
course would, no doubt, adequately meet the needs of all students for 
whom the present two-year courses are planned. 

It is the plan to offer some or all of the ten vocational courses in 
Chicago in each of the nineteen high schools. The number and 
per cent of pupils enrolled in the first nine^^ courses in the third 
week of September, 1910, were as follows: 



33.3? 

43.9}"' 

6.9 



Course Number Per Cent 

12. Accounting 907 

13. Stenography 1,197 

14. Mechanical drawing 188 

15. Design 14 0.5 

16. Advanced carpentry 61 2.2' 

17. Patternmaking 14 0.5 

18. Machine-shop work 21 0.7 

19. Electricity 261 9.5' 

20. Household arts 58 2.1 

Total 2,721 



3.4 



" Course 21, printing, was not oflFered until the second semester, 1910-11. 

The number and per cent of pupils enrolled in the ten courses in December, 1911, as 
furnished by the Superintendent of Schools, were as follows: 



No. of course 


12 
1,009 

28.8 


13 
1,773 

50.6 


14 

210 

5.9 


15 
6 

0.17 


16 
46 

1.3 


17 

7 

19 


18 
56 

1.5 


19 
337 

9.6 


20 
57 

1.6 


21 


0.0 


Total 


No. enrolled 

Per cent of total en- 
rolment 


3,501 
99.66 




79.4 




2.99 





The table reinforces in every particular the statements made on page 9S concerning 
the enrolment in September, 1910. 

8 



98 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

It is hardly possible to draw reliable conclusions from the num- 
ber of pupils registered in the two-year courses, since they are as 
yet too new to have been adequately brought to the attention of 
parents and pupils. The numbers in the above table, hov/ever, do 
not contradict the statement that practical, training along commer- 
cial lines is attractive to beginning high-school pupils. Electricity 
and mechanical drawing are next in order of popularity. These two 
courses, together with the commercial courses, enroll about 94 per 
cent of the pupils. 

The small numbers in courses 16, 17 and 18 are worthy of note. 
With reference to these courses, it may be suggested that in order 
to eventually attract large num.bers of high-school pupils it must be 
well understood by parents and pupils that the courses prepare for 
ultimate positions above that of the ordinary mechanic. For high- 
school students have the academic preparation, and it is safe to 
assume that they have, for the most part, the ambition and the 
family '' push " to take advantage of distinctly technical instruction 
leading ultimately to advanced positions. For this reason the tech- 
nical phases of the academic subjects should receive greater empha- 
sis than the present outlines shovv^, by introducing applied science 
and more of the applied mathematics, especially in the second year. 
The more narrow trade training, preparing mainly for the work of 
the actual mechanic, is more appropriate on the lower academic 
levels, for the large number of children, fourteen years of age, who 
leave school in grades below the eighth, to go to work, although the 
industries offer little or no opportunity for appropriate training at 
this age. Even here specialization would be appropriately preceded 
by a period of all-around shopwork, and as much as possible of 
technical instruction in applied science, mathematics, etc., should, 
of course, be given. The high school is, however, preeminently the 
place to train the leaders, at least the non-commissioned officers in 
the industrial army, whereas the rank and file are and probably will 
be obtained mainly from the lower academic levels. 

The character of the instruction now given in the two-year 
industrial courses varies considerably in the nine high schools visited 
by the committee's representative. In the shop work in carpentry, 
for example, two of the schools visited are giving actual carpenter 
work while the remaining schools are giving the conventional manual 
training work in wood. In the course in electricity some schools are 
introducing the actual construction work done in the trade, while 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 99 

other schools are confining themselves to theory. In the drawing 
and mathematics required in several of the courses, some schools 
are making commendable efforts to present subject-matter in direct 
relation to shop and trade work ; other schools are doing very little 
in this direction. One school, operating under specially favorable 
conditions, has prepared excellent detailed outlines of a tentative 
nature for some of the shop and academic subjects. 

That the character of the instruction should vary in the differ- 
ent high schools is not surprising in view of the newness of the 
courses and the different conditions prevailing in the different high 
schools. Not all the instructors are specially prepared to give the 
kind of instruction needed. A very few were found who seemed to 
be not in full sympathy with the vocational courses. One principal 
seemed to think that the vocational courses were merely " on paper." 
Apparently, some organization and unity of effort are needed 
whereby the good work done in some schools may be made available 
to other schools. 

In the two-year commercial courses considerable improvement 
has been made in providing more time than formerly for practice in 
stenography and accounting. All but two of the schools visited 
now have enough typewriting machines for the practice work in 
typewriting. The main criticism to be made on the commercial 
work is that many of the teachers are not properly prepared for the 
work. Too frequently teachers with no special knowledge of com- 
mercial subjects are taken from the Latin department, for example, 
to teach business arithmetic, or from the science department to teach 
bookkeeping. Some teachers of stenography are unable to take 
dictation themselves. According to the statements of a number of 
principals and teachers, very few of the teachers of commercial 
subjects have had experience in business offices. No organized 
effort is made to study present business practices and office needs 
or to secure the cooperation and advice of business men with a 
view to organizing a commercial course suited to present needs. 
Such study and cooperation is strongly urged by Chicago business 
men,^^ and is carried on in the commercial high schools of Cleve- 
land and Boston. ^^ If the Chicago courses are to be truly commer- 
cial, if they are really to be what they pretend to be, this close con- 
tact with business needs must, undoubtedly, be secured. 

" See Chapters IX and XI. 



100 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

4. In August, 1911, the Chicago Board of Education voted to 
establish a two-year technical college course in the three technical 
schools of the city. The courses are planned to provide a broad 
ground preparing for the work of the third and fourth years of the 
best engineering schools. Following is the tentative course of study 
now in operation at the Crane and Lane high schools. 



College Engineering Course 

FRESHMAN YEAR 

First Semester 
Required: Periods 

College algebra 5 

Chemistry (qualitative analysis) 10 

English 2 

Descriptive geometry 5 

Gymnasium 1 

Elective: 

French or German 5 

Shopv/ork 10 or 5 

Chemistry (additional) 5 

Machine or architectural design 5 



Second Semester 
Required: Periods 

Analytical geometry 5 

Chemistry (quantitative analysis) 10 

English 2 

Machine or architectural design 5 

Gymnasium 1 

Elective: 

French or German 5 

Shopwork 10 or 5 

Chemistry (additional) 5 

Machine or architectural design (additional) 5 

Work will be arranged so that pupil concentrates on the 
kind of work desired. French or German is elective if the stu- 
dent presents 2 units for entrance, otherwise it is required. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 101 

SOPHOMORE YEAR 

First Semester 
Required: Periods 

Calculus 5 

Physics 8 

English 2 

Gymnasium 1 

Elective: 

Shopwork 5 or 10 

Statics 5 

Kinematics 5 

Steam engineering 10 

Electrical engineering 10 

Gas engineering 10 

Chemical engineering 10 

Civil engineering 10 

French or German 5 



Second Semester 
Required: Periods 

Calculus 5 

Physics 8 

English 2 

Gymnasium 1 

Elective: 

Shopwork 5 or 10 

Statics 5 

Kinematics 5 

Steam engineering 10 

Electrical engineering 10 

Gas engineering 10 

Chemical engineering 10 

Civil engineering 10 

French or German 5 

Comment. This course is in line with the present movement to 
take into the high school the work of the first two years of college 
courses, thus making the curricula of secondary schools in this 
country similar to those of France and Germany. The course in 
Chicago provides for some specialization, particularly in the second 
year, for those who do not wish to go on to engineering schools. 



102 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

This suggests the desirability of establishing also more highly spe- 
cialized technical courses in the fifth and sixth years for students 
who do not continue their work in engineering schools. Such special- 
ized courses could give a high grade of preparation for students — 
girls as well as boys — to enter the higher ranks of industry below 
the rank of engineer, or to become teachers of shopwork or drawing 
in the technical high schools. 

5. The Flower Technical High School, for girls, was opened 
for the first time in September, 1911, offering a four-year course 
and a two-year course, embracing work tentatively characterized as 
follows : 

(A) A Four-year Course, embracing 

1. General household science (including cooking, laundry work, house 
sanitation and management, and household accounts) ; intensified training to 
be given to those who wish to become institutional workers, managers of 
kitchens and lunchrooms, invalid and diet workers, and emergency workers. 

2. Household arts (including plain sewing, dressmaking, millinery, 
embroidery, lacemaking, infants' and children's clothing, care of hospital and 
hotel linen, and interior decorating) ; intensified training to be given to those 
v/ho Vvish to fit themselves for supervising and for special work ; machines 
run by electricity and foot power to be used. 

3. Science (including chemistry and biology, taught with a view to 
understanding the experiences and needs of daily life, as well as with the 
idea of gaining an insight into scientific method and theory). 

4. Art, with specialized work in costume, millinery and embroidery 
designing. 

5. English, both utilitarian and cultural. 

6. Applied mathematics. 

7. Geography, history and civics, with special reference to the needs of 
women in Chicago. 

8. Physical education and physiology, with the idea of improving health 
and of giving recreation and training in social requirements. 

9. Music as a recreative and cultural study. 

(B) A Two-year Course, coinciding in part v/ith the four-year course, 
but shaped to fit students for industrial employment by the end of the second 
year. 

Courses in salesmanship, typesetting, boxmaking, and other industries to 
be organized as needed. 

The school will contain a fully equipped lunchroom. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 103 

The school-week is 25 hours, about two-fifths-*' of the time being 
given to handwork, including drawing. The present tentative plans 
provide for specialization in a particular trade during the last two 
years, more or less, of the four-year course, and for the last half 
of the two-year course. In these specialized courses somewhat more 
than two-fifths of the school time will probably be given to shop- 
work and drawing. It is also planned to add a fifth and a sixth 
year to the four-year course as the need arises. 

For the present, the building is used also by an elementary indus- 
trial class, which is intended primarily for over-age girls from 
grades 4 to 8, inclusive, who are at least fourteen years of age and 
at least two years behind grade. About one-half of the 25-hour 
week is given to handwork, including drawing, in this class, the 
remaining time being devoted to such elementary academic studies 
as are suited to the needs of the pupils. 

About 65 pupils were enrolled in the high-school classes in 
November, 1911, and about 35 in the elementary industrial class. 
In the high school, one class is now in operation in the first year, 
and one in the second year, of the four-year course, and one class 
in the first year of the two-year course. In addition, a few students 
v/ith an academic status above that of the second year of the high 
school are accommodated. 

Comment. In providing for specialized work in particular trades 
the Flower Technical High School aims to be a true finishing school, 
giving direct preparation for girls to enter the industries at once 
after graduation, and in this respect compares favorably with simi- 
lar schools in Boston, Cleveland and Cincinnati. ^^ The latter schools, 
however, give more time-- to handwork, including drawing, than is 
at present given to these subjects in the Flower Technical High 
School. The Flower School gives no more time to these subjects in 
the first two years than is provided in the regular high-school course 
of study for the household-arts course. The time allotted to these 
subjects should be increased to one-half or five-eighths of the 
school time in the first year or two, and in the latter part of the 
course should occupy two-thirds or more of the school time. 

The school has not at the present writing provided a definite and 

^t* The time allotted to music, physical education and study is not counted in comput- 
ing this ratio. 

21 See pp. 193-195. 

22 From one-half to over two-thirds of the school time, as compared with about two- 
fifths at present given in the Flower Technical High School. 



104 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

complete curriculum for any of the courses. It is the desire of the 
authorities to leave some freedom for the development of a curricu- 
lum as the needs of the school arise. The school is also at present 
too new for one to pass complete judgment on its work. Some 
excellent work was observed by the writer in drawing related to the 
sewing work, and in botany related to the cooking and to the textiles 
used by pupils. It is apparently planned to relate all the academic 
subjects closely to the shopwork and to industrial needs. In sewing, 
considerable order work is done for individuals and for institutions, 
and articles are made for use in the school. 

Elementary schools 

1. In the Farragut Elementary School, industrial classes were 
started February 1, 1910, with 75 boys and 25 girls, from grades 
6, 7 and 8, who were one year or more behind grade. An effort had 
previously been made to organize industrial classes in this school 
on the cooperative plan, with pupils alternating between factory and 
school in two-week periods. This effort failed partly because the 
boys were unwilling to make the necessary financial sacrifice for the 
period in school. 

The classes are at present, then, essentially for over-age chil- 
dren. Instruction is provided in English, history, arithmetic, busi- 
ness forms and correspondence, drawing, and in woodwork for 
boys and sewing and cooking for girls. Some instruction in civics 
is given by way of supplementary reading. About one-third of the 
time is given to shop and drawing for the boys, and to cooking, 
sewing and drawing for the girls. Plans are under way to add 
elementary electrical work, and shopwork in forge and foundry. 
Classes are not segregated in the academic studies and drawing. 

About 75 pupils were in attendance in November, 1910. From 
30 to 40 applicants were turned away in September for lack of room. 
The average age of pupils is between fourteen and fifteen years. 
Sessions are held 5 days a week, 5 hours a day for one group and 
5^ hours for another group. 

Comment. Special effort is made to overcome the deficiencies 
of the children in the regular academic subjects and excellent prog- 
ress has been made in this direction. Especially noticeable are the 
good results obtained in arithmetic by means of frequent drills for 
speed and accuracy in the fundamental processes, in which the pupils 
take great interest. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 105 

Teachers endeavor to introduce into the academic subjects as 
much as possible of the applications of these subjects. In arithmetic 
about fifty problems relating to woodwork have been collected. In 
history, an elementary study is made of the cotton, wool, linen and 
silk industries, using for this purpose a number of the current sup- 
plementary reading-books on industrial history. In English, some 
composition subjects are related to shopwork. 

In drawing, the boys give about half of the time to working 
drawings of all projects made in the shop, and the remaining time 
to the usual mechanical drawing exercises. The girls make the same 
working drawings that the boys make, and go through the same 
series of mechanical drawing exercises. It may be noted here that 
all the drawing for girls in the Albany Vocational School takes the 
form of design related to sewing and to house planning, decorating, 
and furnishing. In the Farragut School a very little work in design 
is given in the sewing period. 

In the shopwork for boys the following products have been made : 

Cutting board, book-rack, footstool, candlestick, towel holder, hand- 
kerchief box, bill file, toothbrush holder, envelope holder, key rack, whisk- 
broom holder, pot shelf, spool holder, nail box, clock shelf, table mat, mission 
bench, thirty looms for school use. 

The girls' sewing has included the following : 

Dish towel, hand towel, sewing apron, cooking apron, flannel and muslin 
undergarments, gingham dress, gymnasium suit, corset cover, white apron, 
crocheting. 

The shopwork for boys and the cooking and sewing for girls are 
practically the same in character as the corresponding courses in 
the regular elementary grades and in the first year of high school. 
The additional time given to these subjects in the Farragut School 
serves the purpose of providing more training of the same general 
kind on the manual side. There is, however, in comparison with 
similar schools in other cities, little of a distinctly vocational char- 
acter in this work. Moreover, in other cities from one-half to two- 
thirds of the school time is given to handwork, including drawing, 
as compared with one-third in the Farragut School. 

The writer is not altogether certain that it is the aim of the 
school authorities to provide for these classes instruction which is 
industrial in the sense used in this report — namely, that it shall 
prepare definitely for vocations. If this is not the aim, it is unfortu- 



106 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

nate, for these over-age children, most of them more than fourteen 
years of age, and Hving in the midst of a large manufacturing dis- 
trict, are precisely the ones in whom the vocational interest is strong 
and the school interest comparatively weak. If, then, these children 
are to be retained long in school, instruction must be provided which 
is distinctly and frankly vocational in purpose, and pupils and parents 
should clearly understand that such is the purpose of the school. 
The importance of this point is seen in the fact that of the 93 pupils 
attending the school in June, 1910, 48.3 per cent did not return in 
September. 

Industrial training, therefore, as distinguished from manual 
training, would here be appropriate. It is true that the school has 
been in operation only a short time, and that its full development 
into a vocational school is at present handicapped somewhat by a 
lack of room. This lack of room makes it impossible, for example, 
to provide in the school a dining-room, bedroom, etc., about which 
the girls' work in homemaking could be centered, as is done in the 
Albany Vocational School and in the Washington-Allston School, 
Boston. In planning, furnishing, decorating and caring for such 
home rooms large opportunity may be found for practical work in 
the shop, and in sewing, design, arithmetic, English, and a study of 
materials. Excellent training could also be provided if a school 
luncheon were given each day, to be prepared and managed by the 
girls, as at the Albany Vocational School. Even with the present 
lack of room, however, it should be possible to introduce more work 
in sewing of a practical character, such as the darning and patching 
needed in the home. 

In the shopwork for boys much m.ore practical work could be 
done. It should be acknowledged that the present work, for its 
kind, is well done — the teaching is good. It should also be acknowl- 
edged that the shopwork for boys has very little of the character 
of mere '' exercise " work, for the problems of technic are nearly 
always a part of the making of a complete article for ornament or 
use in the home or school. The projects made do appeal to the home 
interest and to a very slight extent to the school interest, but it is 
questionable whether the objects for home use are made to fill a real 
need. The thirty looms made for school used do fill a real need, 
and it is here contended that much more of this kind of work could 
and should be done, to give the shopwork more of the quality of 
real work to the pupil. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 107 

Opportunities must exist in this school, similar to those found in 
other cities, for basing the shopwork on the general repair work 
needed in and around school buildings, and on the making of 
apparatus and other equipment for the schools. Much suggestive 
work of this character is presented in the lists of projects given in 
the description of schools in Chapter VII.^^ In some public schools 
products are also made for sale, and boys are sometimes paid for 
work done for the school outside of school hours. Girls, too, do 
order work in sewing, and sometimes sell the products of the kitchen 
to private families. By all these means the effort is made to give 
the schoolwork the flavor of real life to the pupils. 

It would also be well for some of the woodwork in the Farragut 
School to take the form of carpentry. If more room were available, 
the elementary phases of trades using materials other than wood 
should also be introduced, in order to reach the varied interests and 
develop the different abilities of pupils. In addition to the electrical 
and forge work now being planned, the following trades are sug- 
gested by the curricula of schools in other cities :-* printing, tin- 
smithing, sheet-metal work, plumbing, bricklaying, concrete work, 
and bench and vise work on metal. 

That the more practical, industrial work referred to above is not 
beyond the powers of the over-age children in the Farragut School 
is evident from the fact that in the schools where this work is done 
over-age children are present in large numbers because of the low 
requirements for admission. It may be added that this more prac- 
tical work makes it possible to relate the academic studies and 
drawing to the shopwork, and to the industries in general, in a much 
more direct and vital way than can be done with the kind of shop- 
work now offered. 

In the Farragut School the opportunity exists to attack the prob- 
lem of industrial education in Chicago at the most important point — 
in grades 6 to 8, when the largest number of pupils leave school to 
go to work, and at the age when the industries offer little or no 
opportunity for appropriate training. These years are at present 
largely wasted, both to the child and to the industries. The statistics 
presented in Chapters II, III and IV show the great need for indus- 
trial training at this point. It must be emphasized, however, that if 
this training is to really attract and hold the pupils, and if it is to 

23 For the methods used in shopwork, see Chapter VIII. 
2* See especially sections 1, 2, 3, Chapter VII. 



108 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



win the confidence of employers and parents, it must be truly prac- 
tical in character, it must include the elementary phases of actual 
tradework, and it must be offered under conditions which approxi- 
mate as closely as possible the best conditions prevailing in the indus- 
tries themselves. 

2. An elementary industrial course for grades 6, 7 and 8, is 
authorized in the Course of Study for Elementary Schools adopted 
June 29, 1911. Graduates of this course are to be admitted to all 
high-school courses. As shown in Table 23, 615 minutes a week are 

Table 23. Time schedules in minutes per school week^^ 





Industrial 
course 


General course 




Grades 
6, 7 and 8 


Grade 6 


Grade 7 


Grade 8 


English, history and civics, mathe- 
matics, geography (including special 
Chicago course), penmanship, nature 
study 


56026 


795 


735 


735 


Physical education, music, opening 
exercises, study, general use, re- 
cesses 


325 


435 


495 


555 


Art, industrial arts 


61526 


270 


270 


210 







given to art and industrial arts, as compared with 270 or 210 
minutes, in the general course. The 560 minutes allotted to the 
academic subjects is 175 minutes (nearly 3 hours) a week less in 
the industrial course than in grades 7 and 8 of the general course. 

The work in industrial arts, as outlined for the industrial course, 
includes the following subjects not outlined for the general course: 
for boys, Venetian ironwork, plumbing, concrete construction, ele- 
mentary electrical construction, photography ; for girls, embroidery, 
millinery, waitress work. 

The outlines of academic subjects for the industrial course are 
similar, in the main, to those for the general course, with some 
omissions from the outlines for the general course, and with sug- 
gestions that special emphasis be placed upon the industrial and 

" From the Course of Study for Elementary Schools, adopted June 29, 1911. 

28 For the sake of comparison, the 60 minutes assumed to be allotted to nature study 
in the industrial course is taken from the industrial arts period and is scheduled with 
the academic subjects. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 109 

commercial phases of the various subjects. In mathematics, an 
excellent detailed outline is given of sources for problems in the 
work in household arts. 

The statement is made in the Course of Study that the industrial 
course is, for the present, to be offered only on the special permis- 
sion of the superintendent, and in districts where the demand is 
sufficient to call for at least four divisions of pupils. At the present 
writing no school is actually giving the course. 

Comment. The large amount of time (10^4 hours a week) 
allotted to shopwork and drawing places the Chicago elementary 
industrial course, so far as the time element alone is concerned, 
clearly in the class of prevocational courses in the elementary school. 
The Chicago industrial course, however, should not, in the writer's 
opinion, be offered to pupils of normal age in grade 6. This opinion 
is based upon two principles which may be said to be fairly definitely 
settled in current practice in industrial schools or courses which 
assign to shopwork and drawing as much as 10 hours or more a 
week. In the first place, such courses are not in general offered to 
pupils below the age of twelve. In the second place, the completion 
of the sixth grade (or of higher grades) is commonly accepted as a 
standard, on the academic side, for admission to such courses. ^^ 

These two principles may be defended on several grounds. In 
the first place, it is questionable whether the interest in vocation is 
definitely aroused in most cases before the age of twelve, and 
whether the child is sufficiently mature before that age to undertake 
with profit the kind of shopwork which should be offered in a dis- 
tinctly vocational course. Moreover, one of the objects of vocational 
courses in the elementary school is to develop an appreciation on 
the part of the pupil of the value of further school training after 
the compulsory attendance period. If this appreciation can not be 
aroused in two years, beginning at twelve, it is difficult to see how it 
could be aroused by beginning one year earlier. Again, it is ques- 
tionable whether the academic subject-matter as at present outlined 
and presented in the elementary school should be reduced in quantity 
to the extent that is involved in the time schedule for the Chicago 
elementary industrial course. Present practice also assumes that 

2^ See Course of Study for Elementary Schools, State of New York, 1910, and the 
admission requirements for industrial schools, described in Chapter \'II of this report. 
Courses intended primarily for over-age children in the lower grades are not included 
in the type under consideration. In such courses the aim is mainly to advance the pupil 
on the academic side, rather than to prepare him definitely for vocations. 



110 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

the completion of the sixth grade is necessary in order to insure for 
the academic subjects a degree of mastery of the fundamentals 
which is needed if the applications of these subjects are to be pursued 
successfully in vocational courses. 

In view of the principles above stated it is therefore the opinion 
of the writer that the Chicago elementary industrial course should 
in general not be offered to pupils under twelve years of age, and 
should be limited to those who have completed grade 6. For the 
normal pupil these age and grade limits coincide. The over-age 
pupils at twelve years of age are som.ewhere below the sixth grade. 
For such pupils different provisions should be made. They should 
have the opportunity, no matter what grade they are in, at the age 
of twelve, of entering an industrial course in which shopw^ork plays 
a large part, but which aims primarily, and largely by individual 
work, to advance the pupils on the academic side as rapidly as pos- 
sible until the standard of the sixth grade is completed. 

In short, the Chicago elementary industrial course by beginning 
in grade 6 begins too early for the pupil of normal age, and fails to 
reach the retarded pupils below grade 6 who are twelve years of 
age.^^ 

If, then, we assume that the elementary industrial course should 
be restricted to grades 7 and 8, it is still unnecessary and unwise to 
give so little time to the academic subjects as is provided in the 
Chicago time schedule. With the large amount of time (10^ hours 
a v/eek) allotted to handwork, it should be possible to lengthen the 
school week from 25 hours to 30 hours without bringing undue 
fatigue upon the pupils. A weekly schedule of at least 30 hours is 
comiUion in present elementary industrial schools, and is required 
in the vocational courses in the grammar grades of Fitchburg, Mas- 
sachusetts [see pp. 162-182, especially p. 164]. In the Farragut 
School, Chicago, one group of the industrial class attends school 
28^ hours a week [see p. 104]. With a schedule of 30 hours a 
week, and with 10 hours allotted to shop and drawing, 20 hours 
would be available for academic subjects, general use, etc., as com- 
pared vv^ith 14% hours in the present elementary industrial course, 
20^ hours in grade 7 of the general course, and 21^ hours in grade 
8. It should be recognized that just because these pupils are likely 

28 A complete system of industrial courses to meet the needs of pupils from twelve to 
sixteen years of age, below the academic level of the high school, is presented in items 
1, 2 and 3 of the committee's recommendations on pp. 15-21 of this report. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 111 

to enter the industries early, it is all the more important to give them 
as much as possible of the academic training which is enlightening 
and liberating in connection with their vocation. 

In the outlines of academic subjects some general suggestions 
are given for relating the subject-matter to industrial conditions ; 
in only one subject (mathematics) are specific suggestions given. 
To a certain extent the kind of academic subject-matter appropriate 
to such a course can not at present be outlined in detail ; it must be 
developed by the teacher himself as the instruction progresses in 
close contact with the shopwork. It is, therefore, important in the 
present experimental stage of industrial courses to have instructors 
especially fitted for this work and to provide an independent organ- 
ization of the teaching staff with considerable freedom from con- 
ventional academic standards. The outlines of the course of study 
give no assurance that such an organization is intended, although 
the possibility of bringing about such an organization is provided 
for in the statement that '' No divisions should begin the work with- 
out special permission from the superintendent." 

The woodwork for boys, as outlined in the industrial course, is 
about the same in character as that outlined for the general course. 
This work should be made much more practical in character, should 
be given a stronger vocational trend, by requiring the making of 
apparatus, equipment and other articles of a distinctly commercial 
standard which are actually needed and put to use in the schools 
or elsewhere. The remaining shopw^ork for boys is very slightingly 
treated in the outlines by merely mentioning the names of the trades 
to be introduced, such as plumbing, concrete construction, and elec- 
trical work, without indicating in detail the character of the work 
to be done in these subjects. Detailed outlines should be provided 
for all the shopwork, setting up a definite vocational standard, and 
avoiding the dilettante work which might be done in the absence of 
such outlines. Detailed illustrations of the kind of shopwork here 
in mind are given in the descriptions of schools on pages 162-182 of 
this report. 

Continuation schools 

1. The Apprentice Schools were started in January, 1901, and 
now offer day instruction to carpenter apprentices from January to 
March, inclusive. 



112 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

According to the Articles of Agreement between the Carpenters' 
and Builders' Association, of Chicago, and the Carpenters' Execu- 
tive Council, of Chicago, Cook County and Vicinity, all apprentices 
are required to attend some school each year during January, Febru- 
ary and March, and while attending school receive from the masters 
the regular wage provided by the apprenticeship indenture — namely, 
$6 a week the first year, $7 the second, $8.50 the third, and $11 the 
fourth year. The apprentices are under the control of the Joint 
Arbitration Board composed of members of the two associations. 
This Board exacts fines from the apprentices for non-attendance at 
school. Of the 417 carpenter apprentices in Chicago, Cook County 
and vicinity, in November, 1910,-^, 279 were enrolled in the two 
public schools that year.^° The average membership in the two 
schools in 1910 was 222.5.^*^ The ages of students range from six- 
teen to twenty-five years, the average being about nineteen years. 

In past years the bricklayers and stonemasons made similar 
requirements of their apprentices, but these requirements are not 
now in force. 

In the public Apprentice Schools special effort has been made in 
the 1911 school term to provide practical instruction suited to the 
needs of the apprentices. Teachers have been sought who have 
special qualifications for this work. Outlines of a course of study 
were submitted to the school authorities by the Joint Arbitration 
Board. Shopwork is offered for the first time in the history of 
the Schools. The teachers are preparing outlines of the courses in 
drawing and shopwork. In the academic courses, teachers are 
endeavoring to present a more practical kind of subject-matter than 
that which was formerly offered. Since these efforts were started 
only a short time before the schools were opened they are not yet 
sufficiently matured to make it possible to present in full detail a 
statement of the courses to be offered. The following statement of 
the present tentative plans and of the instruction now given^^ may, 
however, be made. 

Four hours a week are given to shopwork and from 7J/2 to 10 
hours a week to drawing. Since the school sessions are from 31 to 
34 hours a week,^- the time devoted to shop and drawing is about 

28 Statement of president of Builders' Association. 
80 School Report, 1910. 

^ Up to the end of the third week of January, 1911. 
^ No sessions on Saturday. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 113 

two-fifths of the total. The academic subjects include arithmetic, 
history and civics, writing, spelling, English composition and geog- 
raphy. 

An effort is being made to grade the work according to the 
advancement of pupils in the apprenticeship term. To a considerable 
extent, however, the work is the same for the different apprentice- 
ship years. This is explained in part by the fact that the grading 
has heretofore been comparatively loose and the present teachers 
have no record of the stage of advancement reached by the pupils, 
and in part by the fact that some of the subject-matter now offered 
is comparatively new to most of the apprentices. 

In arithmetic an excellent text-book. Shop Problems in Mathe- 
matics,^^ was adopted for this year, and is used in all classes. 

The history in some classes takes the form of a discussion of 
current events based on the reading of newspapers, some geography 
being introduced therewith. In other classes the industrial portions 
of the regular elementary school text (McMaster's) are used. In 
one class that portion of McMaster's text is used which deals with 
the Constitution and Articles of Confederation. In still another 
class the general history of the United States is followed, outlined 
by presidential administrations. 

The civics is likewise presented in some classes in connection 
with current events in newspapers ; in other classes the current 
elementary texts are used. It is worthy of note in this connection 
that instruction on trades unions and builders' unions was recom- 
mended in the course of study prepared by the Joint Arbitration 
Board. In one school some instruction is now given on the organiza- 
tion and relations of these unions. 

The geography is largely commercial in character, the material 
being obtained from the commercial portions of the regular elemen- 
tary school text (Dodge), and from Adams' Commercial Geography. 

In English some excellent work is done in writing compositions 
on specifications and contracts, building laws, business forms, notes, 
etc. 

In drawing, a notable improvement is made this year in the 
elimination of many of the formal exercises previously given and 
in the introduction of more practical work in estimating quantities 
and cost of material, in specifications, strength of materials, and 

^ See p. 21G for an outline of this book. 

9 



114 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

building laws. All the drawing instructors have had practical expe- 
rience in architectural drafting. 

In the shopwork there is at present a difference of opinion as 
to what the content of the course should be. The tentative outlines 
prepared by the instructors include, for both schools, the care, use 
and sharpening of tools, and carpentry work in house framing, roof- 
ing and stair-building, with the addition, in one school, of interior 
woodwork and finishing, and in the other, of cabinet-making and 
finishing in hardwood. The representative of the Joint Arbitration 
Board, however, has criticized this work, on the occasion of a visit 
to one of the schools, saying that instruction in actual carpentry 
was not needed in the school shops, because this instruction was 
provided *' on the job." In his opinion only the finer work with 
tools should be given in the school shops, but he failed to state what 
that work should be. As a consequence of this criticism the shop- 
work in this school seems to be tending, for the present term, in the 
direction of the conventional manual-training work. The work begins 
v/ith the usual " exercises " designed solely for the development 
of fine technic — the planing of a small piece of board ''perfectly 
true, square and smooth," and gauging and sawing to *' perfect " 
dimensions. After these exercises it is apparently contemplated to 
proceed to the making of book-racks, lam.p-stands, candlesticks, 
glove boxes, tabourets, etc., and, perhaps, into patternmaking. 

In the other school the shopwork starts at once on stair-building. 
The first and second year apprentices are to spend part of the term 
on the elementary phases of this work and will later take up house- 
framing and roofing. The third and fourth year apprentices are to 
spend the entire term on the building and finishing of stairs. In this 
school instruction and practice in technic and in the use and sharp- 
ening of tools are given as needed in the progress of the work. 

Comment. The Chicago Apprentice Schools were probably the 
first public day continuation schools for trade apprentices to be 
established in this country. The only other school of that character, 
so far as the writer knows, is the Cincinnati Continuation School 
for machinist apprentices,^* established in September, 1909. Com- 
mercial schools of the day continuation type were established in the 
Boston public schools in April, 1910.^^ 

In Boston and Cincinnati the students receive full pay from 

^ See p. 200. 
3= See p. 201. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 115 

employers while attending school. In Chicago the apprentices 
receive while attending school the regular wage called for by the 
apprenticeship indenture, but some apprentices receive a higher 
wage when working at the trade. In Munich, Germany, the appren- 
tices are paid in some cases while attending continuation schools.^® 

The Chicago Apprentice Schools have about 1,600 hours at their 
disposal for the four-year apprenticeship. The Cincinnati school has 
about 832 hours, and the continuation school for the building trades 
in Munich, Germany, has about 910 hours for the three-year course. ^^ 
The Chicago schools have, therefore, nearly twice as much time at 
their disposal as the Cincinnati school, and about three-fourths more 
than the Munich school. Moreover, since the apprentices in the 
Chicago schools are taken from the tradework for the entire three 
months of the school term, there is, apparently, no reason on the 
side of the apprentices why they should not be required to spend the 
same number of hours a week in school that they spend at the trade 
when not in school — namely, 44 hours. This plan would afford a 
total of about 2,112 hours for the four years, about one-third more 
than at present, and about two and one-third times as much as the 
three-year course in the corresponding school in Munich. 

Chicago thus has an exceptionally good opportunity, with respect 
to the conditions above noted, to provide instruction of the day- 
continuation type in the Apprentice Schools already established. 
There has been much discussion, in the newspapers and elsewhere, 
over the importance of starting day continuation schools in Chicago, 
apparently overlooking the fact that an excellent start had already 
been made so far as external organization is concerned. 

But a comparison of the instruction offered in the Chicago 
schools previous to the present term, with that offered in the con- 
tinuation school for the building trades in Munich, Germany,^^ leads 
one to conclude that Chicago has not risen to her opportunity, in 
this respect, as adequately as she might. The Cincinnati and Boston 
schools, while yet in their infancy, are making earnest efforts to 
provide practical instruction closely related to the students' needs. 

8* Statement in Organisation und Lehrpldne der Obligatorischen Fach und Fortbild- 
ungs-Schulen fiir Knaben in Miinchen, 1910. 

37 See p. 200 and p. 119 ff. The time given to the subject of religion in the ■Munich 
schools is not counted in this statement. 

38 See p. 119 ff. Detailed outlines for the Trade School for Carpenters, Amsterdam, 
Holland, and the School for Carpentry, Brussels, Belgium, are given in the Second 
Annual Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Industrial Education, January, 1908, 
pp. 335 ff. and 376 ff. 



116 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

The Apprentice School conducted by the Chicago Young Men's 
Christian Association^^ has also developed some good work. 

The Chicago Apprentice Schools have been in operation ten 
years, but apparently no thoroughly organized effort has been made 
before the present year to work out in detail a curriculum in which 
the needs of the apprentices is made the center. With the exception 
of drawing, the instruction has been much the same in character as 
that given in grades six, seven and eight of the regular elementary 
school. 

Even the drawing has lacked the practical character needed in a 
course for carpenter apprentices. In the academic studies compara- 
tively little was done by way of introducing applications to the build- 
ing trades. What was offered of this practical character was what 
the individual teacher happened to have at his command out of his 
previous experience. One teacher went so far as to say " it practi- 
cally amounts to nothing." Another teacher, in his three years of 
service in the Apprentice Schools, had accumulated a considerable 
number of practical problems in arithmetic, and in the third year of 
his tenure presented some valuable instruction on plans, specifica- 
tions and estimating. But no permanent record of this work was 
made, in a detailed course of study, and when he left the service the 
value of this work was lost for the future of the school. 

In short, the Apprentice Schools have been allowed to shift 
largely for themselves, with reference to the adaptation of the 
instruction to the special needs of apprentices. New teachers have 
had to find out from the pupils themselves what subject-matter was 
covered in preceding years, and it was largely a matter of chance 
that suitable instruction of a practical character was occasionally 
offered. 

The result of this condition is what one would naturally expect 
— a lack of interest on the part of apprentices, testified to by teachers 
and others, poor attendance,*^ and some difficulty with the discipline. 
The fact that about fifty building-trade apprentices attend the Y. M. 
C. A. school, and that some carpenter apprentices attend Lewis Insti- 
tute, Armour Institute, and the Chicago Technical College,"*^ in all 
of which schools tuition is required, may or may not indicate dis- 

30 See p. 140. 

*<> The percentage of attendance in 1910 was 88.1, which was lower than that for any 
other division of the Chicago public schools except the kindergartens, according to the 
School Report, 1910. 

" Statement of the president of the Carpenters' and Builders' Association. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 117 

satisfaction with the pubHc schools in the past, but the fact is at 
least worthy of consideration.'*^ 

The present efforts to revise the course of study in the direction 
of more practical work deserve commendation. There are now some 
places in which the courses overlap, and there is a certain lack of 
correlation among some departments. These deficiencies are, no 
doubt, due to the newness of the course of study and should, in time, 
be overcome. 

Because of the practical character of the subject-matter needed 
in the Apprentice Schools, and because of the shortness of the 
course, it is especially important to provide a curriculum outlined 
in considerable detail and graded throughout to correspond to the 
apprenticeship years. This is also desirable because of the frequent 
changes of teachers and principals, which are seemingly unavoidable 
under present conditions. 

There is an apparent difficulty in the way of such a grading of 
the courses, arising from the fact that apprentices come to the school 
with varying degrees of academic preparation. But this difficulty 
would largely disappear if the course were related to industrial needs 
as closely as it should be. An excellent example of such a course of 
study is the one for the continuation school for building-trade 
workers, Munich, Germany, a translation of w^hich is given below 
[page 119 ff.]. With the larger amount of time available to the 
Chicago schools they should be able to cover considerably more 
ground than the Munich school. 

Since the course of study for the Apprentice Schools is now in 
an early formative stage, some suggestions, based on a study of the 
work of the schools and of industrial schools in other cities, may 
not be out of order. 

(a) The courses in history and geography now offered, in so 
far as they are industrial, are so in a general way very largely. No 
provision is made, so far as could be learned, for a study of the 
history and geography related in a very intimate way to the building 
industries. To a considerable extent it should be possible, and it is 
desirable, to start with a concrete study of the history-geography of 
the building industries and then branch out into the more general 
industrial and into political and social phases. It would be desirable 

*2 The criticism of the former work of the schools is based on visits to the schools 
by a representative of the committee, and on interviews with three former principals and 
with five teachers. 



118 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

also to include a history of unionism and the mediaeval guilds in 
connection with the instruction on trades and builders' unions pro- 
posed by the Joint Arbitration Board. 

(b) A much closer correlation than at present exists should be 
made between drawing and shopwork. The outlines of the course 
of study for the Munich continuation school, given below, are sug- 
gestive in this direction. The writer understands that this matter is 
now being considered by the school authorities. 

(c) There should be no hesitation in providing actual carpenter 
work in the school shops. The apprentices themselves are eager to 
get such instruction. A number have stated to the writer that it is 
exceedingly difficult to get adequate instruction " on the job," unless 
the apprentice is associated with his father, who takes an interest 
in his advancement. It is well known that this difficulty prevails 
generally under modern industrial conditions. Last year a petition 
was presented by the apprentices to the Joint Arbitration Board ask- 
ing for instruction in shopwork, including the use of the steel square. 
Again this year a petition was presented by apprentices in the school 
not now offering carpentry asking for instruction in the use of the 
steel square. The writer can testify to the greater interest displayed 
by the apprentices in the school which starts with actual carpenter 
work, as compared with the school which starts with formal exer- 
cises in technic. 

(d) More than 4 hours a week for shopwork could be used to 
advantage. A 44-hour week for the schools, with Saturday morning 
sessions, would be desirable. 

(e) The difficulty experienced in securing for the more tech- 
nical phases of the work instructors who have expert first-hand 
knowledge of building conditions suggests the advisability of seeking 
the cooperation of employers and workmen in securing such instruct- 
ors. Since the Apprentice Schools are in session only in the dull 
season for the building trades, this cooperation should be readily 
obtained. 

(f) Many of the obstacles now in the way of the full develop- 
ment of the Apprentice Schools could be overcome if the course 
were extended to include instruction for apprentices in other trades 
in" the autumn and spring. The machinist trade for the autumn 
quarter and the plumbing and steam-fitting trades for the spring 
quarter have been suggested. Full legal authority for such addi- 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 119 

tional schools exists in the following quotation from the Illinois 
State law, approved May 15, 1903. 

In all municipalities where a manual-training school is maintained for 
the technical instruction of apprentices, such indentures shall further provide 
that it shall be the duty of the master to cause the apprentice to attend such 
school for at least three consecutive months in each year without expense to 
the apprentice.*^ 

(g) It is unfortunate that apprentices in the bricklaying and 
stonemason trades are no longer required to attend the Apprentice 
Schools, for the three building trades form a natural group with 
closely allied interests. A combined course of study similar to the 
Munich course given below could be prepared which would be of 
greater value to a particular trade because of its relations to the 
other two. If a thoroughly practical course of study were arranged 
for the three trades it is not unlikely that the bricklayers and stone- 
masons could be persuaded to resume their former relations to the 
schools. 

(h) The per capita cost of the Apprentice Schools in 1910, for 
teachers' salaries only, was $12.72.*^ Reduced to a ten-months basis 
this gives $42.40, compared with $25. SS'** for elementary schools and 
$'70.65** for technical high schools. Since the apprentices are older 
than the high-school students it would not be inappropriate to pay 
at least as much for technical instruction in the Apprentice Schools, 
if necessary, as is paid in the technical high schools. 

The following is an outline of the organization and course of 
study for the continuation school for building-trade workers in 
Munich, Germany :*^ 

Principles of Reorganization 

a. The trade school for workers in the building trades comprises, 
corresponding to the term of apprenticeship of the pupils, three pro- 
gressive yearly classes, instruction in which is given during the period 
from September 15 until July 14 in each year. 

b. Attendance at these classes is compulsory for all masons', stone- 
cutters' and carpenters' apprentices during the entire period of their 
apprenticeship, or until the completion of the eighteenth year of their age. 

c. Instruction is confined strictly to the above-mentioned trades, 

*5 From Kurd's Statutes. 

** School Report, 1910. 

*5 The translation is taken from Bulletin No. 14 of the National Society for the Pro- 
motion of Industrial Education, New York. An outline of the Munich continuation school 
for unskilled workers is given on p. 204 ff. 



120 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

and includes the following subjects: Religion. Business Composition and 
Reading, Trade Arithmetic and Bookkeeping, Hygiene and Civics, Trade 
Drawing and Practical Instruction in Materials and Tools. 

d. The hours of instruction are ten per week in all three trades 
during the winter semester, that is, from October 15 to March 15; and 
during the summer semester, that is, from JMarch 15 to October 15, six 
hours. In the winter these hours fall on a single workday from 7 to 12 
o'clock in the forenoon and from 2 to 7 o'clock in the afternoon: and 
in the summer, on the afternoon of a single workday, from 1 to 7 o'clock. 
Care is to be taken, however, that apprentices of different grades coming 
from the same concern do not attend school on the same day. 

e. The course of study is distributed as follows over the three school 
years and the respective ten and six hours of instruction: 

Hours per week in the 
three classes 
Subject In winter In summer 

semester semester 

Religion 1 1 

Business composition and reading 1 1 

Trade arithmetic and bookkeeping 1 1 

Hygiene and civics 1 1 

Trade drawing 3 2 

Practical instruction in materials and tools.. ..3 

f. The instruction in drawing and the practical instruction in mate- 
rials and tools is to be imparted by craftsmen; the remaining instruction 
is to be given by the trained teaching staff of the public and continuation 
schools of Munich. It is, however, provided in advance that all the 
teachers shall be in very close touch with the trades, so that, with a view 
to practical application, they may be familiar with trade requirements. 

g. The defrayal of the expenses of instruction, as well as the pro- 
vision of the necessary classrooms, remains as heretofore the duty of 
the communitj^ of Munich. 

h. The Guild of Master Builders, Masons, Stonecutters and Car- 
penters announces its willingness to undertake to supplement the supply 
of wood and plaster models for the drawing instruction or of observa- 
tion models for the instruction in materials, where such need shall at 
times arise. 

Scope and Distribution of the Subject-matter of Instruction 

The subject-matter of instruction, with regard to the vocation of 
the pupils, shall accord with the following schedule: 

a. Religion. Lessons following the regulations of the Archiepis- 
copal Inspectorate, or the Protestant Superior Council. 

b. Business Composition and Reading. The instruction in Composi- 
tion aims at preparing the pupil to draft with grammatical, orthograph- 
ical and formal correctness all of the more important forms of private 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 121 

and business correspondence. Class I. Ordinary private letters to mem- 
bers of the family, relatives and friends, relating to events in the life 
and vocation of the pupil; inquiries and replies, applications for employ- 
ment, announcements, statements of acceptance, declinations, indentures. 
(In connection with this, postal forms.) Compositions on the subjects 
of hygiene and materials. Class II. Compositions on matters of pur- 
chase and labor: v/ritten and open bids on building materials, inquiries 
as to prices, orders for goods and labor, purchase and labor agreements, 
business instructions, delivery notices, bills, cash payments, receipts, 
part payments, refusal of payments and suspension of payments. (In 
connection with this, the procedure of the money and parcels post and 
of the freight traffic.) Complaints, excuses, opinions, certificates, recom- 
mendations. Compositions on the subject of materials. Class III. Com- 
positions on the subject of indebtedness; shipments of goods on credit, 
certificates of indebtedness and security bonds, dunning letters, claim 
letters, letters of respite, abatements, correspondence on bills of 
exchange, drawing-up of mortgages and notification on same. Corre- 
spondence with officials: petitions to magistrates, to the city building 
commissioner, state building officials, commercial and industrial com- 
missions, the government and trade tribunals. The instruction in reading 
is intended above all to promote the general and moral education of the 
pupil. It is also designed to arouse the pupil's interest in the best 
literary works. For this purpose the school library is also to be utilized, 
and now and again a classic poem should be read. In order to further 
the above objects, the teacher in each class is to make a suitable, syste- 
matic choice of appropriate selections. 

c. Arithmetic and Bookkeeping. The instruction in arithmetic has 
for its object primarily to impress on the pupil the necessity for acquir- 
ing a thorough system of private and business accounting and to instruct 
him in the proper method of conducting the same. But in addition it 
shall prepare the pupil to make, with as much self-dependence as pos- 
sible, the more sim.ple calculations of cost and estimates, and in particu- 
lar it shall ensure his adequate skill in special building calculations. 
The work in arithmetic for the three classes is arranged as follows: 
Class I. Personal accounts: earnings and living expenses of the build- 
ing-trades workman; reckoning of hourly, daily and weekly wages, 
wages ledger and pay-roll, monthly and yearly income, comparison and 
equalization of summer and winter earnings; the daily, weekly, monthly 
and yearly expenditures of an individual, of a fam.ily; household expense 
book, monthly and yearly balances. Calculations of percentages: sav- 
ings accounts and interest (various methods of calculating interest, 
up to absolute accuracy). Geometrical calculations with direct refer- 
ence to problems in building, exercises in lines, simple surfaces and solids 
(square, extraction of square root, rectangle, cube, four-sided prism), 
calculation, especially of extent of walls on metric system, old-style 
measurements and their conversion (foot, square foot, land measure, 
decimals). Class II. Geometrical calculations, extension of the work 
in surfaces and solids (rhombus, rhomboid, trapezium, triangle, Pythag- 



122 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

orean theorem, triangular prism, circle, circumference, cylinder, hollow 
cylinder, pyramid, and cone and sphere, with special application to 
examples from masons', stonecutters' and carpenters' practice). In con- 
nection with the above, practical calculation of weights. Class III. a. 
Business accounts: with the instruction of this class in business accounts 
is connected the bookkeeping, as far as its formal completion can be 
effected in the classroom. Purchase of building materials, purchase 
and sale of land and buildings, with accompanying profit and loss, 
calculation of averages and more complicated problems in percentage. 
Work by the day and jobwork, including partnership calculations, trans- 
portation of building materials and outfit, sundry other trade calculations. 
Cost-figuring for building trades. Calculations and estimates of a simple 
character. Liquidation of debt, instalment calculations, computing the 
value of financial paper, notes and checks, calculations of tax and insur- 
ance. 

d. Hygiene and Civics. The instruction in hygiene and civics has 
the purpose of familiarizing the pupil with a rational way of living, phy- 
sical and intellectual, and consequently relates on the one hand to sani- 
tary matters, with special consideration of workshop hygiene; on the 
other hand, it deals with the duties of life in the vocation, the com- 
munity and the state, and above all else, with those affairs from which 
the pupil will most quickly gain a recognition of the necessary inter- 
dependence of interest of all social and industrial groups. Class I. a. The 
apprentice: admission to employment, indentures. The workshops and 
factories from the hygienic aspect, the observance of cleanliness. 

b. Deportment: behavior at home, in the school, toward fellow work- 
men and employers in the workshop, on the street, in social gatherings. 

c. Hygiene: construction of the human body in general, nourishment, 
food and food luxuries, according to their value or uselessness. Res- 
piration and the circulation of the blood. Lodging and clothing. Work 
and recreation, care of the sense organs and nervous system. First aid 
to the injured, practice in bandaging. Class II. Trade history: develop- 
ment of architectural plans and processes, especiall}^ in Germany; in 
connection therewith, the conditions of the building-trades craftsman; 
masters who have been prominent in the building trades. The develop- 
ment of the building-trades guild in Munich from the fourteenth cen- 
tury to the present time; trade guilds and associations, the free corpora- 
tion. Class III. The most important features of trade organization. 
Journeymen's and masters' examinations. Workmen's protection and 
social legislation. Trades Council. Trade arbitration. Trade tribunals. 
The building-trades craftsman as a member of the community. Com- 
munity organization. Problems of the community. Honorary offices 
of the citizens of the community. The building-trades artisan as a citi- 
zen of the state. The state constitution of Bavaria. Objects of -the 
state organization. Honorary offices of citizens of the state. Govern- 
ment of the Bavarian Kingdom. Duties of the state authorities. Con- 
stitution of the German Empire. Trade and commerce in modern times 
and its importance to the welfare of the citizen. Competition. Allied 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 123 

trades. The importance of labor in the state. The interconnection of 
trade interests. The value of the German foreign consulate. 

e. Drawing. The instruction in drawing is intended to impart to 
the student, in addition to the greatest possible accuracy and dexterity 
in the use of drawing tools, the capacity for presenting clear and intelli- 
gible drawings of individual masonry, stonecutting and carpentry opera- 
tions and constructions, as well as for drafting simple sketches of plans 
correctly and preparing original plans. He must, therefore, be made 
acquainted with the various methods of drawing and coloring. Where 
it appears practicable, the student's comprehension of his work shall 
be promoted and tested by the execution of working plans, or the iso- 
metric reproductions of single parts. A further feature of this instruc- 
tion is to be found in the arousal and increase of the interest of the 
pupil in the buildings and architectural affairs of the city, as well as 
of his aesthetic and artistic taste in general. The instruction is divided 
into mechanical and freehand drawing. The latter is in every respect 
to be so planned that, wherever possible, it shall support and supplement 
the former; in all classes, as far as possible, practice is to be given on 
designs or models that are actually used in the trade. The general prin- 
ciples of drawing that prevail in all trade schools are to be kept in view. 
The subject-matter of instruction is as follows: 

A. Masons: Class I. Geometrical and projective drawing. The 
most important geometrical elements, with constant reference to their 
technical execution and their application to practical examples of 
masonry; linear designs, erection of perpendiculars on a brick wall, 
line division for a wall design, metrical measurement for a pedestal 
with reduction to scale, angle division for a crown arch. The circle 
and its elements in a round window. Finding the center point for arch 
construction, circular division and polygons in a chimney plan. Tan- 
gential theory in door and window plans. Diminished arch for a church 
window. Ellipse in a house entry. Building-stone measurement. Pat- 
terns for facing walls. Class II. Technical drawing (from models only). 
The elements of mouldings and their combinations to form mouldings. 
Simple solids used in building done in horizontal, vertical and side pro- 
jection, and horizontal and vertical cross sections of the same; iso- 
metrical representation of single building stones and simple elements 
of building construction. The different styles of wall bonds (stretcher, 
binder, English and lateral bond), wall angles, joining and crossing 
walls; chimneys, hollow walls, buttresses. Construction of main and 
partition walls for several adjoining apartments. Class III. Technical 
drawing (from models only). Irregular forms of walls; arch construc- 
tion in brick (crown, depressed, round, flat, pointed and relief arches), 
their form-stones and mouldings. Decorative work on windows and 
doorways. Simple dome construction; simple lunettes. Freehand 
drawing: in freehand drawing for masons and stonecutters the object 
is, in all three classes, to impress the principle that only such deco- 
rative work is of value and artistic importance as answers a con- 
structive purpose or which is designed to give the building and its 



124 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

surfaces rhythm, articulation and graceful proportions. For this rea- 
son no model is to be drawn, unless its connection with the whole 
is clear to the pupil. Besides, there can be selected as models simple 
serial ornaments for wall bands and parts of mouldings; various fillings 
for square, rectangular, circular and oval wall surfaces, for wall friezes 
and pilaster strips, for window casings, etc.; simpler and more ornate 
foliage and flower forms for templet work or ornament; spiral scrolls 
and their decoration, their use in consoles, keystones and gables. Coats 
of arms, shields and cartouches for facade ornam.entation. 

B. Stonecutters: Class I. Geometric and projective drawing. The 
geometric elements, with constant regard to their practical-technical 
execution and their emplo3'ment in stonecutting: line patterns, laying- 
out angles from a stone base. Line dividing on a free-stone wall, scale 
and transfer of scale on a stone pedestal, angles and their division in 
bossage or a window lintel. The circle and its parts, finding the cen- 
ter of a segment arch or a circular window. Circular division and poly- 
gons in a stone filling. Tangent problems in a torsional twist in a 
windov/ scale. Basket handle arch for a church window. Ellipse on a 
bridge arch. Spiral in a stairway. Class II. Technical drav.ang (from 
models only). Moulding details and their combination into mouldings. 
Simple forms of stones in ground, front and side plan. Cut forms and 
isometric representations of the same. Cut-stone bonds, building them 
into brickwork. The various types of arch construction (crown, 
depressed, round, pointed and elliptic arches, smooth and serrated arches, 
coupled arches). Pillars, railings and balustrades. Simple projections. 
Class III. Technical drawing (from models only). Patterns of garden 
pillars and columns. Base, belt and main moulding courses and build- 
ing them into brick walls. Round and pointed arch moulding. More 
ornate window and doorway construction. Niches. Free and wall curbs. 
Simple open steps. Projection of complicated stones. Freehand draw- 
ing: for each of the three years there is a systematic selection of suitable 
patterns in stone sculpture, adapted to the proficiency of the students 
in drawing, such as egg and leaf-stem mouldings, other serial ornaments, 
various fillings in friezes and pilaster strips, in stone bases and pedi- 
ments, in door and window scrolls, in balustrades and other railings. 
Stone volutes and their ornamentation. Scroll, leaf and flower work 
for wall surfaces, door jambs, capitals and key-stones. Foliage and 
fruit scrollwork, arms, shields and cartouches as facade decorations, 
for pilaster and pillar ornament, decorative columns, simple animal 
forms and allegorical figures, lettering. 

C. Carpenters: Class I. Geometrical and technical drawing: ele- 
m.ents of geometrical drawing, with constant regard to their technical 
execution and application to carpentry. Line patterns and laying-out 
of rectangles. Line division in board and picket fence. Metric measure- 
ment, reduced scale, and transfer of measurements on a wooden column. 
Angles and their division in a garden gate. The circle and its parts in a 
roof window. Circle division and polygon in a well enclosure. Tan- 
gent exercises on a sawed-out gable. Three-centered arch in a window 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 125 

frame. Ellipse for a gallery, IMoulding elements and their assembly. 
Class II. Technical drav/ing: simple wood solids done in horizontal, 
vertical and side projection, cross-sections of the same, their design in 
isometrical presentation. Beam joints (running joint, tie joint, mortise 
joint, dovetail joint, skew-notch joint, upper strut, hanging tie, strut 
frame — all from models). Close-walls, balconies. Simple doors and 
gates. Centering. Class III. Technical drawing: roof plans, location 
of beams, simple raising. Roof-prop parts. Roof-prop details at the 
eaves, at the intermediate purlins, at the ridge (by use of models). 
Jack rafters. Simple roof supports: standing, lying purlins, collar-beam 
and truss-frame roofs, dormer-window plans. Plans for simple stair- 
ways. Freehand drawing: adapting the various exercises to the draw- 
ing ability of the students during the entire three years' course, a suit- 
able and systematic selection is made from the manifold forms of beam 
and board ornamentation: various patterns of hanging tenons, upper- 
strut and beam-head decorations, tappets, coronas, barge, verge and 
hanging boards. Other kinds of sawed work. Simple carved panels of 
smaller and larger dimensions. Sketches of details of peasants' houses 
obtained on walking excursions. 

f. Practical instruction in materials and tools: the object of this 
instruction is to familiarize the student with the most important tools, 
instruments and machines of his trade, and with the appearance, prop- 
erties and varieties, the relations and comparative prices, the proper 
manipulation and the practical use of the materials used in the trade. 
This instruction is designed especially to fit the student for making cor- 
rect estimates, and for this reason as close a connection as possible is 
to be made with the instruction in arithmetic, in order to have it become 
a real aid in estimating. The lessons include the following subjects, 
given separately for the three trade branches of the school, and related 
in matter as closely as possible to the given field: 

A. Masons: Class I. Purpose of the school workshop: general 
idea of building; lessons on tools: scaffold building; instruction in 
brickwork bonds (English and lateral bond, partly with model stones, 
partly in the form of dry masonry, with bricks and sand). Lessons 
on materials: lime, lime slaking, preparation and hardening of air mortar. 
Bricks: face bricks, moulded, perforated and arch bricks, Dutch bricks, 
paving tiles, flags, roof tiles, earthenware pipe, chamotte clay and stone. 
Class II. Instruction in bonding acute and obtuse wall angles, as well 
as bonded-in walls and piers. Suavian and Dutch bond, herring-bone 
bond. Exercises in English and cross-bond with adhesive material. 
Lessons on materials: cement (its production, properties and applica- 
tion, Roman and Portland cements), concrete, concrete moulding, 
plaster and its use; wall decay by efflorescence (its cause and preven- 
tion); wood fungus (its cause and prevention); sand, gravel (river and 
pit sand); the natural building stones: limestone, sandstone, volcanic 
stones (trass, from near Nordlingen), granite; gompholite (its origin). 
Class III. Masonry with facing stones, masonry of chimneys and arches 
with practical exercises. Arch masonry work. Setting of window and 



126 REPORT ON l^OCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

door uprights. Caulking the interstices of window uprights with excel- 
sior or similar material. Protecting structural parts from climatic influ- 
ence. Setting and building in overload supports. The finishing coat. 
Its preparation with lime and cement mortar (inside and outside finish): 
mouldings with bends, etc. Explanation in regard to the nature and con- 
struction of foundations. Anchoring and under-pinning the structural 
parts. Preparation, clearing the ground, etc., for quite simple rectangu- 
lar buildings. Method of constructing simple firing contrivances (wash- 
fire places, country baking ovens). Steps for the protection of wood 
against danger of fire. Suggestions regarding drainage arrangements 
of buildings. Rabitz, Alonier and plaster-board walls. Concrete ceiling. 
Covering of iron parts. 

B. Stonecutters: Class I. Explanation of the tools used by masons 
and stonecutters. Various lifting apparatuses (from the iron crowbar 
to the devices for power operation). Setting up scaffolding. Setting 
into the brick masonry bond (English bond with three-quarter and split 
stones). Practical exercises in slaking lime and building (foundations, 
carrying out of stairways, setting cut stone). Working cut stone (prac- 
tical exercise on an easily cut stone and one more dif^cult to cut, lime- 
stone and granite), gurletted, chiselled, granulated, axed, smoothed and 
polished. Instruction in materials: properties, production and uses of 
bricks; properties, production and uses of air or white lime mortar. 
Quarries and quarry operation. Masonry of unfinished and cut stone. 
Concerning the setting of cut stone, limestone and varieties of gypsum. 
Class II. Stone-working machines. Pneumatic chisel, lathes, rubbing 
machines, etc. Practical exercise in making setting-joints (explanation 
of stonecutting). Exercise in stonecutting on plaster models or soft 
stones. Working on model in granite (entry steps, steps without pro- 
file, end step wuth nosing, main-exit steps with pedestals, steps with 
profile). Models in limestone (simple stonecutting, various mouldings). 
Lessons in materials: all the stones occurring in nature, with regard to 
their applicability to building (granite, limestone, sandstone and volcanic 
stone and clays, e. g.. pozzolana, terranova, etc.). Class III. Practical 
exercises: splitting and working up of simple and complicated stones 
(for instance, core arches, wagon vault and groined vaulting), first of 
all in gypsum. Making of various springers and keystones in limestone. 
Making the necessary wood forms for core arches. Making core-arch 
springers of granite. Lessons on materials: plaster mortar, water, 
hydraulic or cement mortar; the cements (Roman and Portland cement) 
in greater detail. Concrete and artificial stone. 

C. Carpenters: Class I. Tools and instruments. Practical exer- 
cises, first of all in the use of tools. Technology of wood: wood as 
building material; its growth, properties, varieties, defects and diseases 
(wood fungus, its origin and prevention). Felling and further work- 
ing-up of -wood into cut goods. Priming and impregnation of wood. 
Class II. Exhaustive consideration of the domestic varieties of wood: 
fir, pine, spruce, larch, summer and winter oak, red and white beech, 
maple, ash (woods more rarely used: alder, lime, elm, birch, poplar. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO. 127 

willow, pitch pine). The utilization of these woods according to their 
properties. The most important fruit trees and foreign building woods. 
Wood-working machines. In the practical exercises, making of the 
various simple wood joints, always in connection with the drawing 
instruction. Concrete moulds. Class III. Extension of the practical 
instruction to include the more difficult joints, beam setting and roof 
joining, according to the a±)ility and advancement of the individual stu- 
dents. Note. — The practical instruction for the third and fourth classes 
is related to the drawing lessons in the respective classes. 

2. Evening continuation classes. Beginning with the winter of 
1909, certain buildings used for evening instruction have been given 
over exclusively to industrial classes wnth the object of enabling 
principals and teachers to give their attention exclusively to the 
problem of making this instruction of more practical value than 
formerly to persons at work during the day who have left school 
at an early age. Recently, more teachers with practical experience 
in commercial shops have been added, temporary teachers' certifi- 
cates being granted for this purpose. 

This tendency to make the evening industrial classes more prac- 
tical is in line v/ith the development of such courses in other cities, 
and in general it may be said that the industrial courses offered com- 
pare favorably with similar courses in other cities. Of the three 
technical high schools in wdiich such instruction is now offered, 
excellent work is being clone in at least one which was observed by 
the writer. The principal of this school reports that 2,265 students 
were in attendance the opening night,^^ the machine and electrical 
shops being so crowded that an extra session had to be provided at 
5 :30 in the afternoon to accommodate the overflow. The large 
attendance in this one school when compared with the combined 
enrolment, the first week, of about 3,000 in the three schools a year 
ago,*^ shows the increasing popularity of these courses, and seems 
to indicate that further development and extension of the evening 
industrial courses would be desirable. 

3. Further provisions for day continuation classes. The school 
administration has recognized*^ the need and the importance of 
making further provisions for continuation schools and classes, espe- 
cially for part-time day classes for the younger persons already at 

*« Autumn, 1910. 

*' Statement of the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. 

*« School Reports, 1909, 1910. 



128 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

work. Only the more capable and ambitious, and the older*^ persons 
are attracted to the evening classes : " It is beyond the resources 
of the average boy, whether in body or character, to give up two 
hours an evening for half the year in a desire to better his training, 
and yet the city ought to do something for the average boy and girl. 
It is deplorable to see a boy enter upon what has been described as 
a ' blind alley ' occupation, an occupation where he will be no fur- 
ther ahead at eighteen than when he begins work, where he will 
receive no training for advanced work, and where he may look 
forward to an entire life without betterment. The Board of Edu- 
cation should furnish opportunity for all pupils to better their con- 
dition, and this can be done by offering the right kind of continua- 
tion schoolwork."^*^ 

But the cooperation of employers, necessary for the part-time 
day classes, has not been forthcoming, although efforts^^ have been 
made to secure such cooperation. The Board of Education has even 
considered the plan of securing State legislation requiring employers 
to cause their employees between fourteen and sixteen years of age 
to attend school from six to ten hours a week.^^ 

While it may be admitted that the complete cooperation of 
employers will not be secured without compulsory legislation, the 
experience of other cities indicates that a good start might be made 
without such legislation. The following suggestions may be drawn 
from the experience of these cities with the cooperative plan in the 
public-school system. 

(a) The alternate week plan of cooperation is most likely to 
succeed on the high-school level, and in connection with school 
instruction distinctly technical in character, preparing for positions 
of responsibility above that of the actual mechanic. For eniployers 
can hardly be expected to give full pay for half-time, and the finan- 
cial sacrifice thus demanded of students limits the alternate week 
plan to those students who are able and willing to make the sacrifice 
and who have the ambition and the necessary academic preparation 

*8 Of the 20,699 students in evening classes, 1908-9, 64.3 per cent were over eighteen 
years of age, 41.8 per cent were over twenty-one (School Report, 1909). 
BO School Report, 1909, p. 89. 

^^ Offers to assist in securing the cooperation of employers and unions were made by 
the Association of Commerce and by the P'ederation of Labor (School Report, 1909). 
Efforts were also made to secvire the cooperation of manufacturers in sending boys to 
the Farragut Elementary Industrial School on the alternate two-week plan. The latter 
effort failed partly because the boys were unwilling to sacrifice half of their wages for 
this purpose, according to a statement of the Assistant Superintendent of Schools. 

B- School Report, 1909. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 129 



to profit by technical instruction leading to advanced positions. Such 
students are most likely to be found on the high-school level." 

(b) The experience of Cincinnati and Boston shows that large 
numbers of employers are willing to give from four to fifteen hours 
a week to their employees, on full pay, for day continuation instruc- 
tion very definitely related to the daily work. In Cincinnati many of 
the employers cooperating are convinced that the increased efficiency 
resulting from such instruction more than compensates for the time 
taken from shopwork.^* Officers of the New York Central Railroad 
Company also testify that shop production is actually increased as a 
result of their apprentice schools, although four hours a week are 
taken from shopwork for the academic studies and drawing.^^ 

(c) Most of the successful efforts at cooperation have been 
made through associations of employers and workmen, and have 
been accompanied by the appointment of advisory committees of 
employers and unions to secure their continued interest and their 
criticism and advice on the work of the schools. 

(d) Provision should be made for some kind of supervision by 
the school of the work of the students w^hile in the factory.^^ There 
are two reasons why this should be done : first, to enable the school 
to relate its instruction as closely as possible to industrial needs and 
conditions ; second, to afford some protection to the student against 
possible exploitation by the employer, to see that the student 
advances on the shop side of his training as rapidly as his ability 
permits. 

It should be added that one obstacle to the adoption of the 
cooperative plan is the lack of confidence on the part of employers 
in the immediately practical value of the school instruction, due to 
the hesitancy on the part of the schools to provide the practical 
instruction needed. This difficulty was pointed out in the Superin- 
tendent's Report, 1910, and a step forward was suggested by way 
of providing more skilled shop instruction in evening classes. It 
may not be amiss to add that a specially favorable opportunity is 

^3 The alternate-week plan is in operation in Fitchburg and Beverly, Massachusetts, 
Freeport, Illinois, Lewis Institute, Chicago, and is under consideration in Cleveland and 
Cincinnati, Ohio, W'orcester, Massachusetts, and Moline, Illinois. In all of these cases 
the plan is confined to high-school students, except in the Beverly Industrial School, 
which admits graduates of the sixth grade, and in the Lewis Institute Cooperative Course, 
which enrolls, out of a total of thirty-six students, only five who had not completed the 
eighth grade. 

^ See p. 201. 

^ See American Engineer and Railroad Journal, July, 1907. 

^"^ For a discussion of forms of supervision now in operation, see pp. 150, 151. 

10 



130 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

presented in the Apprentice Schools and in the Farragut Industrial 
School to win the confidence of employers and workmen, alike, by 
making the instruction in these schools practical in character. 

The generally favorable attitude of employers toward industrial 
schools, as shown in Chapter III, and the definite offers of coopera- 
tion made in the comments of some individual employers, indicate 
that properly directed efforts to secure voluntary cooperation might 
not be wholly unsuccessful. Furthermore, the cooperation of 
employers already secured in two of Chicago's schools — Lewis 
Institute and the Apprentice Schools — at least gives faith that what 
has been done might be done again. ^^ 

4. State legislation. Some interesting legislation bearing on 
continuation schools is shown in the following provisions of the 
Ohio compulsory education law, in effect, May, 1910.^^ 

Boards of Education are authorized to establish part time day schools 
for those who are at work, and then may require all who have not completed 
the eighth grade to continue their schooling until they are sixteen years of 
age. Those who are at work may he required to attend eight hours a week 
between the hours of eight a.m. and five p.m. Those who are not employed 
are required to attend school full time until they are sixteen, no matter what 
grade they have reached. 

The Board of Education of Cincinnati has adopted a resolution to provide 
" Continuation Schools " to meet the provisions of the law, and therefore all 
certificates to work hereafter granted will be with the condition that the 
Board may require attendance at school eight hours a week. 

The law expressly provides that certificates to work are to be given only 
to youths, between fourteen and sixteen years of age, who have completed the 
f.fth grade. Pupils must present to the Superintendent of Schools a written 
statement from an employer agreeing to give the child legal employment, 
and to return to the Superintendent of Schools the "certificate" zmthiti two 
days after the child's employment shall cease, with the reason for the with- 
drawal or dismissal. 

Any child between fourteen and sixteen years of age who ceases to work 
must report at once to the Superintendent of Schools; and said child must 
be returned to school if employment be not found in two weeks. 

^"^ Since the above was written, the cooperative or alternate-week plan has been started 
at the Lane Technical High School. By an arrangement with the Chicago Telephone 
Company, students to the number of forty or fifty are formed into two groups, one of 
which works for the company while the other group is in school. At the beginning of 
each week the groups change places, those at work returning to school, and those in school 
going to work. Students receive $9 a week while at work for the company. They receive 
no pay while in school. The students are selected from the fourth-year class on the basis 
of their knowledge of electricity because of the technical nature of the work they are 
called on to perform. Those who fall behind in their studies are not allowed to continue 
with the practical work. After graduation from the school the students are offered per- 
manent positions with the company. Plans for extending the scheme to other lines of 
work are now under way. 

•* Taken from a circular issued by Cincinnati public-school authorities. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 131 

11. A Comparison with Other Cities 

For purposes of comparison it will be profitable to take a bird's- 
eye view of present provisions for public industrial education in 
day schools in Chicago and in each of five other cities visited by the 
committee's representative. The outline here given shows in con- 
densed form what is being done by each city as a whole.^^ 

In Chicago 

1. The Farragut Elementary Industrial School. 

2. The Apprentice Schools. 

3. Two-year and four-year vocational courses in high schools. 

4. Industrial course in grades 6, 7 and 8 under consideration. 

In Boston, Massachusetts 

1. Optional industrial courses are provided in grades 6 to 8, 
inclusive, requiring five hours a week, but not jeopardizing the 
pupils' chances of being graduated in the usual time from the ele- 
mentary school. Four schools offer such courses in woodwork and 
bookbinding. Similar courses in printing and in cobbling or ele- 
mentary leather work are under consideration. One school has 140 
pupils in these courses ; another school has 75. 

2. In two schools, 10 hours, or more, a week, are given in 
grades 6 to 8 for optional courses in woodwork and elementary 
metal. Students in these classes have little or no chance of being 
graduated in the usual time from the elementary school. About 
40 students are enrolled in metal work. 

3. A Boys' Vocational Class of 20 pupils from the upper grades 
of one public school building. This class is conducted by the North 
Bennett Street Industrial School (a social settlement school) in 
cooperation with the public school authorities.^^ A little less than 
half-time is given to woodwork, printing and drawing, and the 
remainder to related academic work. A two-year course in general 
vocational training is planned for this school, with the possible addi- 
tion of a third year of more specialized and intensive trade training. 

4. The establishment of a girls' vocational class similar to the 
boys' class is under consideration. 

5. A pre-apprentice school giving a two-year course for boys 
who want to become printers' apprentices at sixteen years of age. 

^8 Fuller descriptions of schools and courses in the five cities here included, and in 
other cities, are given in Chapters VI, VII, and VIII. 

™ The public-school authorities bear no part of the expense of the school. 



132 ' REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

One-half time to trade instruction and one-half to related academic 
work. 

6. A pre-apprentice school in bookbinding is under considera- 
tion. 

7. A ** home school " for pupils in grades 4 to 8 of one school. 
A five-room apartment is being furnished completely by pupils in 
woodwork, brass and sewing classes, and is used for work in domes- 
tic science and homemaking. A garden is connected with the school. 
Pupils in grades 7 and 8 give 4 hours a week to this work. 

Similar work in another elementary school is under consideration. 

8. A girls' trade school, giving one-year practical trade courses 
in dressmaking, millinery, clothing-machine operating, and straw- 
machine operating, for girls between fourteen and eighteen years 
of age. About two-thirds of the time is given to trade instruction 
and one-third to supplementary academic work. Two hundred stu- 
dents. Subsidized by the State. 

9. An independent industrial school admitting boys of fourteen 
years to four-year trade courses, under State subsidy, is being 
planned. 

10. Girls' High School of Practical Arts. A four-year high 
school, distinctly technical in character, open to graduates of the 
elementary school. About one-half of the time is given to industrial 
work, and one-half to related academic work. College preparation 
is abandoned. Three hundred and sixty students. 

11. The Mechanic Arts High School, which has thus far been 
the only high school in Boston offering a four-year course in manual 
training, is revising its course of study to the end that it shall pre- 
pare its pupils for industrial efficiency, and not for entrance to col- 
lege or higher technical institutions.^^ 

12. Afternoon industrial classes in two high schools offer work 
in jewelry and silversmithing and in elementary electrical manufac- 
turing. Admission is limited to pupils regularly enrolled in the high 
school. About four hours a week are given to this work. Twenty- 
two students were enrolled in the class in jewelry and silversmithing, 
in May, 1910. 

13. Day Continuation Schools*'^ are provided which meet four 
or five hours a week for 10 consecutive weeks. Courses are offered 

"1 Resolution passed by the School Committee, September 7, 1909. 

*2 Although these schools are commercial, not industrial, in character, they are here 
included because of the importance of continuation schools in a complete system of voca- 
tional education. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 133 

in preparatory salesmanship, and in the dry goods and shoe and 
leather industries, for young men and women already employed in 
these industries. Students attend these classes during working time 
without loss of pay. Employers cooperate in meeting the expense 
of the schools and in furnishing experts in the industries to give the 
instruction. One hundred and seventy-four students. Courses for 
bank clerks and for persons in the wool industry are under consid- 
eration. 

In Newton, Massachusetts 

A good schematic presentation of the facilities afforded by the 
public schools of Newton, Massachusetts, to meet the needs of all 
classes of children is given by the outline taken from the Superin- 
tendent's report and presented herewith [p. 134]. 

Special attention- is called to the articulation (shown by the 
arrows) of the Independent Industrial School with the grammar 
grades and with the Technical High School. The last four courses 
in the Technical High School do not offer preparation for college. 
All high-school courses are four years in length. 

1. In the Extra Technical Course the usual four years' work 
in manual training for boys is completed in the first three years, 
about one-half of the school time being given to shop and drawing. 
In the fourth year specialized tradework is offered. Some part-time 
work in commercial shops may also be provided for in the fourth 
year. 

In the handwork for girls a similar distribution of time is made. 

2. The Independent Industrial School admits boys who are at 
least fourteen years of age from the last four grades of the elemen- 
tary school (there are nine grades in the elementary school). About 
two-thirds of the time is given to shop and drawing. Woodwork, 
machinework, electricity, printing and sheet-m.etal work are offered. 
The school is at present supported by a private citizen. ^^ Forty-five 
pupils were enrolled in May, 1910. 

In Cleveland, Ohio 

1. An Elementary Industrial School is provided for pupils who 
are at least two years behind grade, and who have either finished 
the sixth grade or have tried and have failed to finish that grade. 

^^ The school is administered by the public-school authorities, and it is not unlikely 
that it will ultimately be supported by public funds. 



134 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



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INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 135 

Half-time is given to shopwork and half to closely related and prac- 
tical bookwork. Boys have shopwork in wood and sheet metal. 
Girls have cooking, machine and hand sewing, and garment-making. 
Classes are segregated both in academic studies and in shopwork. 
The course is two years in length with a year or two for specialized 
work to be added if the need arises. One hundred and forty-five 
pupils. 

2. A similar school for over-age pupils in a congested district 
was started in the autumn, 1910, in a new building with full equip- 
ment for manual training and household arts, and with a gymnasium 
and swimming pool. 

3. The Technical High School offers a four-year course to 
graduates of the elementary school. Half-time is given to shop and 
drawing in the first three years, and two-thirds in the fourth. Prep- 
aration for college is not the dominating aim of the school. The 
academic subjects are not treated in the usual manner, but are 
organized about the needs of the school shops and laboratories and 
about the demands of industrial life. Classes are segregated through- 
out, the subject-matter for boys being different from that for girls. 
The school year is divided into four quarters of twelve weeks each. 

4. The establishment of another Technical High School, similar 
to the present one, is under consideration, to meet the demand cre- 
ated by the present school. 

In Cincinnati, Ohio 

1. Day Continuation School for machine-shop apprentices. 
About 200 apprentices from 18 different machine shops give 4 hours 
a week, without loss of pay, to instruction provided by the Board 
of Education. The students are divided into nine groups, each group 
meeting one-half day a week for 48 weeks in the year. The course 
is 4 years long, corresponding to the regular apprenticeship term, 
and is closely related to the shop needs of the apprentices. No tool- 
work is given in school. One instructor spends two half-days a 
week visiting shops, on pay. 

2. The Industrial Course for Boys is a four-year high-school 
course, giving five-eighths of the time the first two years to drawing 
and shopwork, completing in that time the usual four-year course in 
manual training. In the third and fourth years the students spe- 
cialize in some trade as apprentices in commercial shops, under pay, 
spending alternate weeks in school and shop. 



136 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

3. The Industrial Course for Girls is similar in organization to 
the industrial course for boys, offering in the first two years the 
usual four-year course in domestic science and art, and in the last 
two years the cooperative plan of one week in comxmercial shops or 
stores and the next week in school. 

In the above industrial courses for high-school boys and girls the 
academic work is closely related to shop and industrial needs. The 
courses do not prepare for college. They are offered for the first 
time in 1910-11. 

In New York, Nezv York 

1. The Vocational School for Boys offers a two-year prepara- 
tory trade course in machine shop, sheet metal, forging, plumbing, 
electric waring, printing, carpentry, cabinetmaking, turning and 
patternmaking. One-fourth of the school-time is given to academic 
work closely related to the shopwork. 

The school is open to graduates of the elementary school, and to 
those who are not graduates of the elementary school, provided the 
latter are fourteen years old and pass an examination on certain 
elementary subjects. 

Sessions are from 9 :00 a.m. to 5 :00 p.m., 5 days a week, 11 
months in the year. Three hundred students. 

2. The establishment of another vocational school for boys, in 
a different part of the city, is under consideration. 

3. A four-year industrial course for boys is offered in one high 
school, giving nearly one-half of the time to shopwork and drawing 
in the first three years, and in the last year seven-tenths of the time 
to advanced shopwork in a special line. Open to graduates of the 
elementary school. 

4. A three-year technical course for girls is offered in one girls' 
high school, giving about two-thirds of the time in the last three 
years to courses for dressmakers and embroiderers, milliners, 
designers, printers, bookbinders and library assistants. 

5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, formerly under 
private auspices, is now a part of the public school system. It offers 
trade courses in power-machine operating, dressmaking, millinery, 
novelty work and designing. About one-fifth of the school time is 
given to academic work closely related to tradework. 

6. A plan is under consideration to open the elementary school 
woodshops afternoons from three to five o'clock, and evenings and 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 137 

Saturdays, to boys over twelve years of age, and to others, for 
optional work. 

7. Another plan is under consideration to establish optional 
industrial courses in one or two elementary schools where there are 
60 or more classes in grades 7 and 8. 

8. The Board of Education is attempting to secure from the 
State authorities permission to sell the products of industrial schools 
in the open market at prevailing prices. 

Summary 

The five cities compared with Chicago in the above outline were 
selected because they have made more complete provisions for indus- 
trial education than any of the other cities visited by the committee's 
representative. Boston leads all of the cities in this respect, with 
New York second. 

All types of industrial courses thus far developed in public day 
schools in this country are represented in the six cities mentioned. 
The Apprentice Schools of Chicago are the only examples in this 
country of what may be called the " seasonal type " of day continua- 
tion schools. With respect to the organization of this type of con- 
tinuation schools Chicago may be said to be in advance of other 
cities, since this type of school apparently fills a real need. 

In the high school, Chicago has not provided — with the excep- 
tion of the builders' course — as thoroughgoing industrial courses as 
Cleveland, Cincinnati and Boston. Chicago has no trade or prepara- 
tory trade schools and has very inadequate provisions for optional 
industrial courses in the upper elementary grades. Day continuation 
schools like those in Cincinnati are also lacking in Chicago. 

In some of the cities a definite effort is made to articulate the 
industrial schools with higher schools. In Boston, for example, the 
industrial courses in grammar grades prepare students for any 
course in high school. In Newton, graduates of the preparatory 
trade school may enter any course in the technical high school. 

III. Private Industrial Schools^* 

1. The Lewis Institute Cooperative Course for shop apprentices 
is a two-year course, distinctly technical in character, and intended 
to train apprentices in the machine trades for positions above that 

^ Schools and courses of college grade are not included. 



138 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

of the actual mechanic. For admission, boys must be between sixteen 
and twenty-one years of age. No definite academic requirements 
are set for admission, but only 5 of the 36 boys in the course in 
November, 1910, had not completed the eighth grade, and nearly 
half had from one to four years of high-school training. The aver- 
age age is about seventeen and one-half years. 

Wages are paid weekly, for the time in school and the time in 
the factory shops, at the rate of 7 cents an hour the first year and 
9 cents an hour the second year, all time lost from school or factory 
being deducted at the regular rate. The tuition fee of $50 a year 
is paid by a private benefactor. 

The course was started in January, 1909, in cooperation with 
the Chicago branch of the National Metal Trades Association. 
About 21 firms were cooperating with the Institute in November, 
1910. The apprentices are grouped in two's, each boy in a group 
alternating with his mate between school and shop in successive 
weeks. The two-year course counts as half of the four-year appren- 
tice term. 

The subjects studied in school are: 



FIRST YEAR 



Winter and Spring: ^^"""^ 

' ^ per day 

Principles of mechanics 2 

Shop mathematics 1 

English composition, literature and public speaking 1 

Machine sketching 2 

Foundry practice 2 



Summer: 

Chemistry, demonstration lectures, laboratory work and reci- 
tations 6 

Autumn: 

Principles of mechanics 2 

Shop mathematics 1 

English composition, literature and public speaking 1 

Mechanical drawing 2 

Patternmaking 2 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 139 

SECOND YEAR 
. Hours 

Winter, Spring and Autumn: per day 

Engineering principles 2 

Applied mathematics 1 

English composition and industrial history 1 

Machine drawing and design 2 

Machine-shop practice and forgework 2 

Summer: 
Electricity, engineering principles and practical mathematics.. 4 
Laboratory work in testing machinery and strength of mate- 
rials 2 

The school sessions are 24 weeks a year, 5 days a week, 8 hours 
a day in the autumn, winter and spring terms, and 6 hours a day in 
the summer term. Half of the school time is devoted to drawing 
and work in the school shops, except in the summer term which is 
given over entirely to applied science and mathematics. 

Comment. That the course is technical in character, as dis- 
tinguished from the more narrow trade instruction, is evident from 
a glance at the subjects outlined above. The instruction in mathe- 
matics^^ is based largely on the work of students in the school shops 
and laboratories, and includes arithmetic, mensuration, and simple 
algebra and trigonometry. Some commercial arithmetic is intro- 
duced in connection with instruction in business forms, correspond- 
ence, etc. 

Two hours a week are given to industrial history under the 
instructor in English. Lectures are given in the first hour, and the 
students write in the second hour on the subject of the lectures. An 
outline of the topics covered is given on page 222 of this report. The 
course treats of the general progress of industrial history mainly in 
England and the United States. It may not be amiss to suggest that 
a more intensive history of the machine trades, at least as a point of 
departure, would be more closely suited to the needs and interests 
of the apprentices, since they are at work in those trades. 

One instructor, who acts as director or supervisor for the 
Cooperative Course, gives considerable time to interviews with fac- 
tory managers, parents and pupils, in order to make proper arrange- 
ments for placing boys in factories for the week not in school. 
Little or no effort is, however, made to study the daily work of the 

^^ See p. 216 for an outline of a course in applied mathematics worked ovit mainly in 
other classes of Lewis Institute. 



140 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

apprentices in the factory with the object of relating the school 
instruction in a detailed way to that work. In this connection the 
cooperative courses in Beverly, Massachusetts, and Cincinnati, Ohio, 
offer suggestions which might be of value.^^ 

An important feature of the course is the provision for shopwork 
in school in addition to that done in the factory. One weakness of 
cooperative courses is that the student may be subjected to more or 
less exploitation in the factory by foremen and superintendents, and 
that the factory training in certain highly specialized establishments 
may not be so broad as is desirable. Shopwork in school, together 
with some form of supervision by the school of the students' work 
in the factory, should be of service in overcoming this weakness of 
cooperative courses. 

2. The day and evening classes of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, with a yearly enrolment of about 2,000 men and boys, 
are of interest for our present purpose mainly because they indicate 
a need for educational effort of the supplemental or continuation 
type which is at present not fully met by the public schools. 

Among the technical courses offered to evening classes, the fol- 
lowing are not covered by the public school evening classes : steam 
and gas engineering, engineering design, concrete construction and 
design, and heating, ventilating and plumbing. 

A day school for apprentices in the building trades is conducted 
each year from January to March, inclusive, with an enrolment of 
about 50 students. The following subjects in the present tentative 
course of study indicate an effort to provide more practical instruc- 
tion than that offered in the corresponding public Apprentice Schools 
before the year 1911. 

Plan-reading, estimating and building construction. Short methods of 
taking off quantities, cost of material and labor, construction methods and 
strength of materials, with standard hand-books for texts. 

Building law. Lectures on legal relations of achitect, contractor and 
owner ; building ordinances, contracts, specifications, statements ; lien law, 
estimates and tenders. 

Mechanics of beams, logarithms, slide rule, study of the steel square. 

The apprentice course is at present three years in length. Busi- 
ness English is offered in the first year only, and practical mathe- 
matics in the second and third years. Architectural drafting is 

«« See p. 207 and p. 201. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 141 

given each year. No instruction is ofifered in geography, history, 
civics or shopwork. 

Tuition fees, in addition to the Association membership fees, are 
charged for all classes. 

3. A correspondence course in printing is conducted by TJie 
Inland Printer under the direction of the International Typograph- 
ical Union. The course aims to prepare compositors for positions 
in the more artistic phases of composition work. Thirty-seven les- 
sons, in all, are provided : nine on lettering ; ten on the principles 
of design and color harmony ; ten on the application of these prin- 
ciples to various kinds of composition work; one each on layout 
of books, papermaking and platemaking, and four lessons on imposi- 
tion. The distinctive feature of the instruction is the emphasis 
placed upon the principles of design and color harmony, developing 
by this means the initiative and independence of the student com- 
positors. 

The International Typographical Union pays all expenses inci- 
dent to advertising the course and gives a rebate of $5 on the regular 
tuition fee of $25 to every student who completes the course satis- 
factorily. Many local unions offer their ov/n members an additional 
part of the tuition fee. 

About 1,500 students were enrolled in two years from the time 
the course was established (March, 1908). 

4. Factory apprentice schools. Of the 181 firms from whom 
replies were received in connection with the investigation described 
in Chapter III, only three reported an apprenticeship system which 
included instruction in academic branches and drawing. These three 
schools are briefly described below. They are of interest for our 
present purpose mainly because they show the employers' attitude 
on the need for supplementary instruction of the continuation school 
type, and because they reveal to some extent the possibility of coop- 
eration between the public schools and the industries. 

Diligent inquiry failed to discover such a system in operation in 
any other manufacturing establishment in Chicago. A strong argu- 
ment in favor of continuation schools in Chicago is thus furnished, 
on the one hand, by the small number of schools of this character 
in the factories of the city, and the fact that only the largest estab- 
lishments can afford to provide them ; and, on the other hand, by 
the testimony of employers and unions, given in Chapters III and IV, 
on the great need for a better trained class of skilled workmen. 



142 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

(1) The Western Electric Company has a four-year course for 
machinist and patternmaking apprentices. Graduates of manual- 
training schools are given credit for the first year's work. Two 
hours a week are given to instruction in mathematics, mechanical 
drawing, and the reading of blue-prints and specifications. 

(2) The McCormick Works, of the International Harvester 
Company, has a four-year course for machinist apprentices. Two 
hours a week are given to shop arithmetic. Between 50 and 60 
apprentices were in attendance in February, 1910. 

(3) The School for Apprentices of the Lakeside Press admits 
to the composing-room only those boys who are graduates of the 
grammar schools and who are between fourteen and fifteen years 
of age. For the pressroom, sixteen years is the minimum age 
requirement. Boys between fourteen and sixteen years of age work 
4^ hours daily in the shops, and spend S^/l hours daily in the 
factory schoolroom. One-half of the time in the school is spent in 
trade instruction, under an instructor in printing ; the other half is 
given to academic studies under a special instructor in these subjects. 
After the first two years, apprentices are required to spend the 
full time in the factory shops, and must take evening instruction, 
three nights a week, two hours each night, in a school provided by 
the company. 

Instruction in the factory school includes a review of arithmetic 
(factory problems), English, drawing, physiography, simple book- 
keeping related to the printing-office, algebra, geometry, and the 
elements of mechanics applied to the machines, engines and motors 
in the factory equipment. In algebra. Wells' Shorter Course is used; 
in geometry, Wentworth's First Steps in Geometry. Some atten- 
tion is given to the history of the alphabet and of printing. 

The school was started in July, 1908. The length of the appren- 
ticeship term is seven years. About 100 apprentices were in attend- 
ance in May, 1910. 

5. The Coyne National Trade School is a short-course trade 
school conducted as a business undertaking for profit. Tuition fees 
range from $30 to $75. Courses are offered in plumbing, electricity, 
bricklaying, painting, decorating, paperhanging, and in architectural, 
mechanical, sheet-metal and carpenters' drawing. The courses in 
painting, decorating and paperhanging are under the direction of 
the Master Painters' Association, of Chicago. The catalogue states 
that 2^ to 3 months are ordinarily required to complete a course 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO 143 

in the day classes. No book instruction is given and no academic 
requirements are set for admission. The ages of students range 
from fourteen to fifty. The school was established in 1902. About 
450 students were enrolled in 1909. 

Comment. Schools of this type, run for profit, exist in many 
cities. Whatever may be said against them because of lack of thor- 
oughness and because of the opposition they arouse among union 
men, it must be admitted that the large number of persons who are 
willing to pay the necessary tuition and living expenses indicates a 
need for instruction in the building trades not adequately met by 
present provisions in commercial practice. It is also evident that this 
need could be better met by public schools whose graduates should 
have a definite status as advanced apprentices. 

6. The Chicago Technical College offers two-year courses in 
the day school in architecture and civil and mechanical engineering. 
No definite academic requirements are set for admission. No shop- 
work is offered. Tuition in the day school is $100 for the year of 
nine months ; in the evening school, $65, three evenings a week. The 
total enrolment in 1909-10 was about 400. The school was estab- 
lished in 1903. 



144 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER VI 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES 

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS 



This and the next two chapters present the results of a study of 
present provisions for industrial education in twenty-eight cities, 
twenty-four of which were visited by a representative of the com- 
mittee. For this purpose, a total time of six weeks and one day 
was spent in travel, fifty-six different schools being visited. 

While making this study some opinions were naturally formed 
by the visitor of the value of the various kinds of schools and 
courses provided and of the means and methods used in carrying 
on the work. These general impressions are presented below. 
Forty-three schools are described in Chapter VII, classified as to 
types. A statement is also given in Chapter VII of the present 
practice of seven cities in the matter of separate high-school build- 
ings for manual training and technical courses. Chapter \"III 
contains a description of methods used in shopwork, some outlines 
of drawing and academic courses and text-books, and statistics on 
the wages of former students. 

Some General Impressions 

The large number and great variety of experiments now being 
conducted in this country with industrial schools and courses, many 
of them started within the last three or four years, brings one at 
once to the conclusion that it is no longer necessary to rely solely 
on the experience of European countries for examples of what we 
need in this country. Of the cities visited, Boston has thus far made 
the most complete provision for vocational training at all points in 
the school course.^ 

The importance of intermediate schools 

By far the most significant of the schools now established are 
the prevocational or preparatory trade schools- and courses for the 

^ For an outline statement of present provisions for public industrial education in day 
schools in six cities, viewing each city as a whole, see pp. 131-137. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 145 

years twelve to sixteen.^ For, in the first place, in the trade school 
proper, intensive training for boys is commonly begun at sixteen 
years of age, or later, and this fact makes it difficult for the trade 
school to secure many students or to retain them long after they 
have entered. The experience of Milwaukee and St. Louis is evi- 
dence of this condition. Most of the boys to whom the trade school 
might appeal come not from the high school but from a class who 
have been at work and earning money during the two years or more 
since they left the elementary school. The feeling of independence 
developed in these years out of school is often such that the boy 
does not appreciate the future advantage of training in a trade school 
and is unwilling to make the present sacrifice necessary to secure that 
training.^ In the case of the trade school for girls the same difficulty 
does not arise because the training is begun at fourteen, and the 
course is shorter. 

The trade school is also handicapped somewhat by the great 
expense for equipment and for the high grade of instruction needed. 
Moreover, some trades are disappearing under modern conditions 
of factory production, and it is, therefore, a question to what extent 
school training in these trades is worth while. The field for the 
trade school proper is undoubtedly important, but it is not so large 
nor so immediately pressing as that for the more elementary indus- 
trial schools and courses. 

In the second place, neither the trade school (for boys) nor the 
technical high school can be so effective as the more elementary 
industrial schools in meeting the most important phase of the 
problem of industrial education in the public schools — namely, how 
to remove the great waste now caused by the large numbers of 
children who leave school in grades 6 to 8, at fourteen years of age, 
to go to work, although the industries offer little by way of training 
or advancement before the age of sixteen, and little by way of 
financial compensation.* 

The immediate problem of industrial education in the public 
schools is, then, mainly, though not entirely, a problem of inter- 
mediate schools with their beginnings in grades 6 to 8. Such schools 
are able to discover the dift'erent vocational interests and abilities 
of pupils, to lay a foundation of industrial intelligence, and to give 

2 See types 1, 2, 3, Chapter VII. 

* See comments of employers, Chapter III. 

* See Chapter II. 
11 



146 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

a measure of manual dexterity. Such schools and courses take the 
child before he starts to work and give him a training that will 
enable him .to advance from unskilled or less skilled positions to 
positions requiring greater skill and greater industrial adaptability 
or intelligence. 

It is just this adaptability, this power to advance, which is at 
present in greatest demand in the industries, because most of them 
do not furnish the necessary training themselves. It is this kind 
of training which will relieve the present industrial situation at the 
most painful point, in the crowded ranks of the unskilled and of 
those Vv^ho nov/ spend most or all of their lives at the monotonous 
and deadening task of merely tending a machine wdiich performs 
only one of many processes entering into the making of a finished 
article of production. There is no objection to a boy beginning to 
work at an automatic machine; but there is serious objection if he 
is compelled to remain long at that process. 

The strategic importance of schools and courses of this inter- 
mediate type can hardly be overemphasized. The high school has, 
of course, a distinct part to play — to provide technical training of 
a grade below that of the engineering college, for the increasing 
number of positions between that of the engineer on the one hand 
and that of the actual mechanic on the other. No doubt some of 
these positions will be filled by those who rise from the ranks with 
no more special school training than that obtained from the inter- 
mediate industrial schools referred to. It is also true that graduates 
of technical courses of a high-school grade m^ust for the most part 
acquire the necessary practical experience by starting to work as 
actual mechanics. But it is the distinctive opportunity of the high 
school, and therefore its duty, to take advantage of the superior 
academic training of its students by preparing definitely for such 
intermediate positions. It should, of course, still be possible for the 
intermediate industrial school to articulate with the technical high 
school in such a way that students of the former may enter the 
latter school at appropriate points.^ 

In this connection attention should be called to the importance 
of having vocational advisers in the schools, to study the oppor- 
tunities for work in the industries and the dififerent interests and 
abilities of pupils, and to advise pupils and parents as to the best 

^ A good example of such an organization is given in the schools of Newton, Massa- 
chusetts, described on p, 133. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 147 

course of training to pursue, or the most suitable vocation to follow. 
Boston has one or more of such vocational advisers in each elemen- 
tary and high school in the city. 

There is still another type of industrial school not yet estab- 
lished in this country and only slightly developed in European coun- 
tries, that seems to be greatly needed, namely, a day continuation 
school for persons at work in unskilled occupations. Commercial 
schools of this type are in operation in the Boston classes in prepara- 
tory salesmanship.^ The Cincinnati Continuation School is for boys 
already apprenticed in a trade. In the unskilled occupations there 
is obviously a great need for day continuation schools giving instruc- 
tion similar in character to that now offered in the prevocational 
or preparatory trade schools already referred to. 

Factory apprentice schools 

Three w^ell organized apprentice schools in factories were vis- 
ited — two conducted by the General Electric Company, at West 
Lynn, Massachusetts, and Schenectady, New York, and one con- 
ducted by the New York Central Railroad Company, at West 
Albany, New York. These schools are excellent examples of recent 
efforts of large establishments to provide an apprenticeship system 
to take the place of the old system, which is not suited to modern 
conditions of factory production.'^ 

In the first place, very thorough provision is made in the three 
schools mentioned to give the apprentice an all-around shop train- 
ing. In the two schools conducted by the General Electric Company 
this training is provided for about half of the term in a separate 
training room with full factory equipment and on the regular com- 
mercial products of the company. The shop training throughout 
the apprentice term is in charge of a supervisor who gives his whole 
timiC to the apprentice school. In the West Albany School the shop 
training is given in the regular shops of the company under the 
supervision of a shop instructor who gives his entire time to this 
work. 

In the second place, instruction in drawing, mathematics and 
applied science is provided by these schools during working hours, 
and without loss of pay to the apprentices. This instruction is 
closely related to the shopwork. Especially interesting and sug- 

« See p. 201. 

' For a statement of the conditions responsible for the failure of the old-time appren- 
ticeship system, see p. 55 ff. 



148 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

gestive to public industrial schools are the courses in the West 
Albany School^ in drawing and mathematics, which are organized 
entirely with reference to the needs of apprentices, and present the 
technic and the essential principles of these subjects, not in the 
abstract way of the conventional school course, but always by way 
of their applications to shop needs. 

Undoubtedly, such apprentice schools as these have an advantage 
over the public trade school in that the instruction in the former is 
given under actual commercial conditions which the trade school 
can, in general, only approximate. Another very important advan- 
tage of the factory school is that it enables the boy to earn money 
while learning a trade. This is a very serious problem in connection 
with the public trade school, as already pointed out. 

These factory schools, however, are essentially business under- 
takings, for officers state that even as a productive venture during 
the apprentice term they are not a loss to the company. It is prob- 
able that only the larger establishments can provide, without loss, 
such a thorough and comprehensive training. Unless, therefore, a 
much greater effort is made by manufacturers in general to provide 
a modern system of apprenticeship, it will still be necessary for this 
training to be provided, in part at least, by the public, either in a 
trade school or in some form of cooperative or continuation courses. 
Moreover, no matter how successful the factory apprentice school 
may be in giving intensive trade instruction beginning at the age of 
sixteen or later, it will still be necessary for the public to provide 
the proper training of a preparatory kind for the years fourteen to 
sixteen which are at present largely wasted, both to the industries 
and to the boys and girls. 

Attitude of trade unions 

Diligent inquiry was made in each city visited to ascertain from 
the school authorities the attitude of organized labor toward the 
industrial schools. In only one case was any opposition reported 
and that was in connection with a school supported largely by asso- 
ciations of employers. In many cases, union men serve on advisory 
committees for the industrial schools. In some cases, school author- 
ities have submitted proposed curricula to the unions for criticism 
and suggestions. In Boston a representative of the State Federation 
of Labor made an investigation of the industrial schools, covering a 

8 For a brief description of these courses, see p. 218. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 149 

week's time, and returned a very favorable report. In general, it 
may be said that organized labor is not only not opposed to public 
industrial schools, but gives them its hearty approval and coopera- 
tion,^ except where such schools are in danger of being controlled 
by employers. 

Cooperative courses 

Unions have gone on record^*' as being opposed to cooperative 
courses, on the ground that such courses put in the hands of employ- 
ers too much power to do injury to the principles of unionism. It 
is true that cooperative courses do, unless properly safeguarded, put 
into the hands of employers power to control the instruction in vari- 
ous ways against the interests of pupils. But there is unquestion- 
ably a large field of usefulness for such courses, since they afford the 
boy an opportunity to earn money while continuing his education, 
and since they provide shop training under actual commercial con- 
ditions and the opportunity to relate the academic training closely 
and vitally to industrial needs. Surely such courses should be of 
advantage to employers and workmen alike. It is, therefore, to be 
hoped that experiments with cooperative courses will continue, that 
employers and workmen will soon see their usefulness, and that the 
public school authorities will see the importance of retaining suffi- 
cient control to direct these courses solely in the public interest, to 
secure the best possible training for the workers. As a matter of 
fact, no opposition on the part of unions is reported in cities where 
cooperative courses are established. 

Cooperative courses now conducted in public schools may be 
classified into the following three types with respect to the time 
given to schoolwork : 

First, what may be called the " seasonal type," as exhibited 
in the Chicago Apprentice Schools. ^^ These schools are for car- 
penter apprentices who are required by the apprenticeship inden- 
ture to attend school three months a year during the dull season 
— January, February and March. While attending school 
apprentices receive from the masters the full wage called for by 
the apprenticeship indenture. These schools were started in 
January, 1901, and are the only schools of this type in this coun- 
try, so far as the writer knows. 

» See p. 73 f f. 

1° Report of Committee on Industrial Education, American Federation of Labor, 1910. 

" See p. Ill ff. 



150 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Second, the plan of giving alternate weeks to school and fac- 
tory, as in Fitchburg and Beverly, Massachusetts. Apprentice- 
ship indentures are made in the Fitchburg course but not in the 
Beverly course. In both cities pupils are paid only for the work 
in the factory. 

Third, the day continuation type as found in the Cincinnati 
Continuation School. When this school was started, employers 
voluntarily agreed to cooperate with the school authorities by 
requiring their apprentices to attend the continuation school four 
hours a week without loss of pay. The Ohio State law, in effect 
in May, 1910, authorizes Boards of Education to require youths 
at work between fourteen and sixteen years of age to attend 
part-time day schools not more than eight hours a week. 

A present, though perhaps not a necessary weakness of the 
cooperative plan should here be pointed out. When the shop train- 
ing is left entirely under factory control it is open to the same 
objections that can be raised against the ordinary apprenticeship 
system — namely, that the shop training may be no broader than 
that offered by a particular establishment in which the work in some 
industries is highly specialized, and that the boy may be subjected 
to more or less exploitation by foremen or superintendents. The 
first objection may be overcome by oft'ering shopv*^ork in school. 
This is done in the Cooperative Course in Lewis Institute, Chicago, 
and is being planned in the Cleveland and Cincinnati high schools. 

To overcome the second objection some form of supervision by 
school authorities of the shopwork in the factory is needed. In Bev- 
erly this is done by an instructor who spends the entire week in the 
factory with one group of boys, and the next week gives instruction 
to the same group in school in drawing, mathematics and science. 
All the boys work in one factory, in a training room set apart for 
this purpose. In the Cincinnati Continuation School one instructor 
spends at least two half -days a week visiting the eighteen factory 
shops. In Beverly, the shop instructor is paid by the employers for 
the time spent in the factory. In Cincinnati, the employers bear no 
part of the expense of the school. 

An important feature of the supervision of the factory work is 
the opportunity it gives to bring the school instruction into close 
contact with industrial needs. In the Cincinnati Continuation School 
much of the schoolwork in drawing, mathematics and English is 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 151 

based on the blue-prints and trade catalogues of machines used and 
products made in the factories. The following detailed statement of 
the method of coordinating school instruction with factory work, 
used in the cooperative course for engineers at the University of 
Cincinnati, will be of interest in this connection :^- 

Each class has a shop coordinator who is a college graduate acquainted 
with shop practice. He spends every morning at the university and every 
afternoon in the shops. His function is to make a direct weekly coordination 
of the work of the shop with the theory of the university. One afternoon, 
for example, he may be at the shops of a local manufacturing company, 
where he will observe the student apprentices at their work. He will know 
what they are turning out, their speeds, feeds and cuts, the angle of the tool, 
how the batch of work is ticketed, how the work is set up, the power drive — 
everything important in connection with the operation. The next week these 
young men will be grouped together with their classmates for two periods 
in class, when he will explain the functions of the particular articles on 
which the students were working, in the machine which the local manufac- 
turing company builds. He will take up all questions of speed, feeds, cuts, 
accuracy, etc. The ticketing of the batch of work is gone into, and the sys- 
tem of shop routing is explained. Ultimately all problems of shop organiza- 
tion, shop accounting, cost keeping, shop planning, power transmission, heat- 
ing, ventilating, lighting, etc., are discussed during the six years' course. 

In conjunction v/ith this a card system is employed, by means of which 
everything the student does in the shop that exemplifies a theor}- taught in 
the university is called in detail to the attention of the teacher of the theory, 
so that v/hen the student comes to that particular theory the exemplifications 
which he has had in his practical work in the shop are called to his attention. 
It v.ill be seen, then, that out of the student's own experience is drawn much 
of his course in mechanism, thermodynamics, machine design, strength of 
materials, shop economics, etc. 

"Industrialized" shopzvork 

As shown in the detailed descriptions in Chapter VII of this 
report, many of the schools visited are introducing a kind of shop- 
work more practical than that of the usual manual-training course. 
This is done by making products for sale to individuals or firms, by 
making equipment, apparatus or furniture for school use, and by 
doing general repair work in and around school buildings. In some 
schools, students are paid for work done. An effort is also made 
in the more elementary courses to introduce shopwork on materials 
other than wood, such as bricklaying, concretework, plumbing, tin- 
smithing, sheet metal, bench and vise work, electricity, forge and 
foundry. 

^2 Taken from an article by Professor Schneider in the American Machinist, Septem- 
ber 9, 1909. 



152 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

In the more elementary industrial schools and courses^^ this 
more practical shopwork has great significance because it suggests 
a kind of work which might well be substituted for some of the 
present work in manual-training courses, even when these courses 
are given for general educational purposes instead of for strictly 
vocational ends. Interesting experiments in this direction are being 
conducted in the elementary grades of Menomonie, Wisconsin, 
Fitchburg and Boston, Massachusetts. In Menomonie actual trade- 
work of a rudimentary character is substituted for the usual manual 
training in some classes in grades six to eight. In New York city 
a committee of the Board of Education proposed " to improve the 
efficiency of the present shop system in our elementary schools by 
reorganizing the manual training from a vocational point of view 
so that it may bear a direct and immediate relation to the industrial 
efficiency of the children wdien they leave school."^* 

Manual training is at present largely formal and abstract in the 
sense that the processes, while fundamentally industrial in their 
nature, are to a great extent taken out of their industrial or social 
setting and are given to the pupil as a series of exercises or problems 
which to him have little significance beyond the fact that they are 
school tasks ; they are part of a course he takes. No doubt, present 
courses in manual training have disciplinary value, in that they give 
training in muscular coordination, in the power to think, and in 
other v/ays. The superior value of the industrial courses referred 
to above, indeed the feature that makes them truly industrial, lies 
in the fact that while they are concerned with processes much the 
same as those of the conventional manual-training course, they pre- 
sent these processes in their industrial or social setting ; the boy 
sees and feels that his work has commercial value, for it is not only 
usable but actually used and needed. The significance of his work 
in the work of the world is thus revealed to him. There is, appar- 
ently, no reason why the present disciplinary value of manual train- 
ing should be lessened, indeed it should be deepened, by the intro- 
duction of some of the industrial work referred to. 

The main point here in mind is that the practical kind of shop- 
work offered in the more elementary industrial schools visited has 
a much greater educational value than the manual-training work 
usually offered. Especially is this the case when products are made 

"Types 1, 2, 3, pp. 162-182. 

" From the Minutes of a meeting held June 24, 1908. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 153 

in large quantities, as in the Rochester Factory School, in the indus- 
trial courses in Boston elementary schools, and in other schools. In 
these schools the division of labor introduced in making projects in 
large quantities makes it possible to develop a spirit of cooperation 
and a sense of social responsibility largely absent from the more 
individual work of the conventional manual training type. Time 
and cost cards and checking systems also aid in this development. 
Such work acquaints the pupil with modern methods of manufacture 
and factory organization, and gives the opportunity to develop 
leadership and organizing ability by the appointing of group fore- 
men, and to develop inventive genius in the making of jigs or devices 
to facilitate manufacture. The necessary technic — the manual- 
training " exercises " — is all the more readily mastered as needed 
in the making of articles intended for real use, to fill a real need. 
Nor is the frequent repetition of a single process necessarily 
deadening, if pupils are transferred from one process to another at 
suitable intervals. Indeed, a degree of efficiency and a feeling of 
mastery are thus developed which are far from deadening. The 
experience of schools with this kind of work shows that it is not 
necessary to introduce the motive of personal ownership to quicken 
the interest of pupils. 

Related academic zvork and drawing'^^ 

With this more practical industrial work an excellent oppor- 
tunity is presented to motivate the other school subjects, to make 
the shopwork and the industries in general the center from which 
drawing and the academic subjects radiate. Some schools are doing 
this very successfully ; only one school was found — a trade school 
— in which such modified academic work was not considered appro- 
priate and was, therefore, not attempted. An interesting example 
of this kind of correlation is given in the methods used in the Indus- 
trial School, at New Bedford, Massachusetts.^^ The course in drav/- 
ing in the apprenticeship system of the New York Central Railroad 
v/ould be a revelation to many teachers who think it necessary to 
postpone the applications of drawing until a series of " exercises " 
on the use of drawing instruments and on certain geometrical prob- 
lems is completed. In the New York Central course the applications 
of drawing to shopwork are presented from the beginning, the 
technic being mastered as it is needed in the applied problems. In 

^5 For some outlines of courses and text-books developed in schools visited, see pp. 
215-231. 



154 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

arithmetic, mensuration and mechanics, this vital relation to shop- 
work is also maintained. 

What is greatly needed in the academic work of industrial schools 
is a number of text and reference books dealing with academic mat- 
ter closely related to the industries represented in these schools. At 
present it is necessary for teachers themselves to organize this sub- 
ject-matter vvhile doing the regular v/ork of instruction. A few 
mathematical books of the kind needed have already appeared. ^^ 

Courses in citizenship and in industrial history could be made 
especially valuable in vocational schools, for by means of these sub- 
jects some of the most pressing social problems of to-day could be 
presented in a very direct and vital way. The continuation schools 
of Munich, Germany, have excellent courses in these subjects, each 
very closely related to a particular trade.^' In this country very 
little has yet been done in this direction. Most of the industrial 
history now offered treats only of the general development of indus- 
try — the Industrial Revolution, the Guilds, etc. This is, of course, 
worth while, but it is likely to be more or less remote and abstract 
to the tradeworker. It would be better to start with the history 
of the particular industry or industries represented in a given school 
or comm/anity and then generalize. A very interesting example of 
such a course is the one in the history of the boot and shoe industry, 
in the high school at Brockton, Massachusetts.^^ In only two other 
schools was such a course found — in the Cincinnati Continuation 
School, in v/hich som.e instruction was given in the history of the 
iron and steel industry, and in the Pre-apprentice School, Boston, in 
which lectures are given on the history of printing.^^ 

The academic subjects now being developed in vocational schools 
are of considerable significance also because of the suggestions they 
offer for the reorganization of the academic subjects in the regular 
elementary and secondary school curricula. There is much discus- 
sion at present of the importance of simplifying the course of study, 
especially in the elementary school, and of eliminating some things 
altogether. The vocational schools may well serve as experiment 
stations to point out the direction which this simplification and 
elimination should take. In the Cleveland Elementary Industrial 

i« See p. 21-1. 

1" See p. 119 ff. and p. 222 ff. See also Organisation und Lcln-flcine dcr Oblgatorischcn 
Fach und Fortbilditngs-'Schulen fiir Knaben in Miinchen, 1910. 

IS See p. 218 ff. 

" See p. 221. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 155 

School a very conscious effort is made to work out a simplified 
course of study with this larger end in view. 

It is frequently charged that the instruction in the elementary 
school is not suited to the abilities and interests of the pupils ; that 
it is " fitted not to the slow child or to the average child, but to the 
unusually bright one."^*^ Hence there are many over-age children 
in the grades, many who fail to be promoted and then lose interest 
and drop out of school. Many of these retarded children are pres- 
ent in the elementary industrial schools visited, and many teachers 
have testified to the remarkable progress made by these children 
under a kind of instruction which is suited to their interests and 
abilities. It is not too much to say that the regular elementary 
school has important lessons to learn from the work of these voca- 
tional schools. 

Qualm cations of teachers 

Because of the nev.ness of the industrial schools, teachers with 
proper qualifications for these schools are scarce — both in the shop- 
work and drawing and in the academic subjects. To a considerable 
extent, traditional standards and methods must be abandoned, espe- 
cially in the academic subjects, and teachers must strike out boldly 
in the direction of industrial needs. Much of the conventional 
subject matter must be eliminated, partly for lack of time and 
partly because it is not suited to industrial needs. Much new matter 
must also be introduced. The different subjects of study must be 
unified as far as possible — mathematics must not be separated 
into v/ater-tight compartments of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and 
trigonometry, but these branches must be interwoven into a single 
subject in close relation to its applications in science and in the work 
of the shop. All this requires a kind of ability and training not yet 
widely developed in teachers. 

For the shopwork, teachers are needed who have had practical 
experience in commercial shops, and who also know how to teach. 
The combination is hard to get. It is especially difficult for men 
with years of practical experience in commercial work to adapt 
themselves to the work of teaching the younger pupils, unless they 
have much native ability in this direction. Of the shopwork 
observed by the writer, the poorest in technical finish was done by 
boys under the instruction of expert mechanics with years of expe- 

20 Ayres: Laggards iii Our Schools, p. 5. 



156 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRALXLXG 

rience at the trade. Such instructors are too likely to be satisfied 
with a poor quality of work from the pupils on the ground that they 
are too young to do better. On the other hand, some of the best 
quality of shopwork observed was done by grammar-school boys 
under the instruction of women who could teach. Under present 
conditions, the right kind of a shop instructor, especially for younger 
pupils, can perhaps be most readily obtained by adding to the equip- 
ment of a trained teacher some practical experience in commercial 
shops. Some teachers are now preparing themselves in this way. 
The practical mechanic obtained from commercial shops is more 
likely to succeed with older pupils in advanced courses. 

Separate buildings for industrial courses 

There is much discussion as to whether industrial courses should 
be offered in separate buildings with a principal and teaching staff 
devoted exclusively to this work, or whether such courses should 
be given in the same buildings with general courses, and under the 
same principal and teaching staff. On the one hand it is urged that 
the separate building and teaching staff is necessary if vocational 
courses are to reach their full development. Many academic prin- 
cipals and teachers, it is claimed, are not yet in full sympathy with 
this work, and have not the qualifications necessary to give the 
vocational courses a distinctive aim. The industrial course should 
have the advantage of a distinctly industrial atmiosphere and routine 
which can not readily be secured in the conventional school. On 
the other hand, it is argued that separate industrial schools would 
tend to produce a social stratification of pupils and parents which 
would work against the principles of a democratic society. 

In most of the cities visited the more advanced industrial courses 
in public schools are in separate buildings. Optional courses in 
grammar schools are, with one exception, not in separate buildings. 
Of the preparatory trade schools all but one are in separate buildings. 
Trade courses proper are, with two exceptions, in separate buildings. 
In high schools, the tendency in large cities is, on the whole, to offer 
technical courses in separate buildings. ^^ 

There seems to be no good reason why industrial courses, at 
least the more elementary courses, should not ultimately be offered 
in the same buildings with other courses. Surely the conventional 
schoolwork could profit greatly by close association with industrial 

2iSee p. 209 ff. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 157 

courses. Moreover, in small communities it might be financially 
unwise to establish separate buildings for this purpose. 

Whether academic principals and teachers are in sympathy with 
industrial education is a matter to be determined in a given case ; 
if they are not, it is more than likely that the experiment will not 
succeed in that instance. It is of the utmost importance that indus- 
trial courses should preserve their integrity, that they should be 
really industrial if they pretend to be. In the present experimental 
stage of this work the separate school, with a teaching staff concen- 
trated upon and consecrated to the problem in hand, could be of 
great service in developing a content and method for industrial 
courses. In the larger cities such instruction could, no doubt, at 
first be offered both in regular buildings and in separate buildings. 
When industrial education is once thoroughly established, with a 
definite content and method, it should not be impossible to unite the 
various educational eft'orts into a single system so as to preserve a 
proper social balance. 

Industrial education for girls 

Four types of industrial education for girls were found in public 
schools, as follows : 

(1) Home-making courses in elementary grades. Four 
hours a week in the Washington-Allston School, Boston [page 
167] ; ten hours a week in Fitchburg, Massachusetts [page 164]. 

(2) Preparatory trade schools for the years fourteen to 
sixteen, giving half of the school time to dressmaking, millinery 
and household science — the Albany Vocational School [page 
173], the Cleveland Elementary Industrial SchooP- [page 168], 
and the Vocational School at Yonkers, New York [page 177]. 

(3) Trade schools proper, beginning at fourteen years of 
age, giving most of the school time to intensive trade training, 
and comparatively little to homemaking and academic subjects — 
New York city [page 186], Boston [page 187], and Milwaukee 
[page 189]. Dressmaking and millinery are taught in all these 
schools. The New York and Boston schools offer in addition 
power machine operating on clothing and straw hats and (in 
New York only) novelty work and trade art. The courses are 
from a year to a year and a half in length. 

22 The Cleveland school is at present exclusively for over-age children. It is not yet 
giving all the work indicated, but will probably develop in that direction. 



158 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

(4) Four-year courses in high school, giving from one-half 
to two-thirds of the school time to handwork, including applied 
art, with specialization in the latter part of the course in dress- 
making, millinery and domestic science. In the Boston High 
School of Practical Arts specialization is perm.itted in the last 
three years, in Cleveland and Cincinnati in the last two years, 
and in Newton, Massachusetts, in the last year [see pages 193- 
196]. In Cleveland, Cincinnati and Newton, -some form of 
cooperative work, alternating between school and industrial 
establishments, will probabty be offered in the last year or two 
of the course. 

With reference to the segregation of boys and girls the above 
schools m.ay be classified as f ollovv s : 

( 1 ) In separate buildings exclusively for girls : the Boston 
High School of Practical Arts, and the trade schools in New 
York, Boston and Milwaukee. 

(2) In the same buildings with boys, but classes segregated 
in academic subjects as well as in handwork: the Albany Voca- 
tional School, the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School, the 
Yonkers Vocational School, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati and 
Newton^^ Technical High Schools. 

(3) In the same buildings with boys, and classes not segre- 
gated in academic subjects : the Washington- Allston School, 
Boston, and the Fitchburg Grammar School. 

A strong tendency toward segregation is noticed in the above 
schools — in only two cases are the boys and girls in the same classes 
in academic subjects. In most cases the boys and girls are in the 
same buildings, but meet in separate classes for the academic sub- 
jects and for handwork. Such separation is, no doubt, called for 
by the fact that the subject matter in the classes for girls differs 
greatly from that in the classes for boys. 

In general, it may be said that provisions for training in indus- 
trial occupations are not yet as fully developed for girls as for boys. 
There are many reasons for this. Some educators still have the 
more or less sentimental idea that training for girls should prepare 
only for homemaking, ignoring the fact that many must and do work 
for a number of years outside of the home. Training in home- 
rs Only the extra-technical course. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 159 

making must, nevertheless, be included in industrial education for 
girls, as well as training for a trade or other occupation, and this 
two-fold phase of the problem introduces complications. 

The problem of deciding what trades should be taught to girls is 
a difficult one. At present dressmaking and millinery are the main 
trades taught in public industrial schools. The opportunities in 
industrial occupations are not as great for women as for men. Girls 
with the necessary academic training are more likely to enter com- 
mercial pursuits, which are in general more attractive in working 
conditions and in a financial way. 

Nevertheless, many girls do enter the various factories, having 
left school at fourteen years of age in grades below the eighth. They 
start to work at unskilled or only slightly skilled occupations. The 
Vv'ages are low, little opportunity is presented in some lines for train- 
ing leading to advanced positions, and yet the demand for skilled 
v/orkers is in somie cases great. The problem of industrial education 
for girls who leave school in the lower grades at fourteen years of 
age is just as important as the corresponding problem for boys. 
Girls as well as boys at this age need training which will develop the 
capacity for promotion. For the girls, trade training of either the 
preparatory or the intensive type may be begun at fourteen, while 
for the boys the intensive training is commonly postponed until 
sixteen. 

The whole question of women in the industries needs thorough 
study to ascertain what the present conditions and opportunities are, 
and what the possibility is of improving these conditions and oppor- 
tunities, and of opening new opportunities, by appropriate training. 
The NevvT York and Boston trade schools have done excellent serv- 
ice in this direction. The experience of these schools shows that con- 
ditions may differ widely in different communities, not only in the 
kinds of industries present but also in the conditions prevailing in a 
given industry. To decide what trades should be taught in a trade 
school for girls it is, therefore, important to study the industries open 
to women in a given community to ascertain which employ large 
numbers of women ; which industries require skilled w^orkers ; which 
offer the opportunity of a steady rise to better positions ; which do 
not adequately provide the necessary training themselves ; which pay 
good wages for reasonable hours of work ; which are conducted 
under proper physical, sanitary and moral conditions ; which provide 
work the year around, and, in the case of seasonal trades, what 



160 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

opportunities exist for the worker to use the dull season in one trade 
for work in another trade. Moreover, this close study of the indus- 
tries must be continued after the trade school is started, in order to 
adjust the instruction to the changing conditions in the industries due 
to the change in fashions and to the introduction of new machinery. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 161 



CHAPTER VII 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES (Continued) 

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS 



Forty-three schools are described under I, below, classified as to 
types. All but four of the schools described were visited by the 
committee's representative. In the descriptions, matters of general 
organization, curriculum, entrance requirements, etc., are presented. 
To give an idea of the industrial character of the shopwork, lists of 
products are also included in cases where such lists were obtainable 
and were of general interest. Under II a statement is given of the 
present practice of seven cities in the matter of separate high-school 
buildings for manual training and technical courses. 

I. Industrial Schools and Courses Classified as to Types^ 

The schools and courses described in this section may be clas- 
sified into the following six types : 

(1) Optional industrial courses for grades 6 to 8, inclusive, 
parallel to existing grammar-school courses, and not jeopardizing 
the pupil's chances of being graduated in the usual time. 

(2) Industrial schools and courses for elementary school pupils 
twelve to fifteen years of age, which do not offer the possibility of 
graduation in the usual time. 

(3) Preparatory trade schools for the years fourteen to sixteen. 

(4) Trade schools proper, giving intensive training, beginning 
usually at the age of sixteen for boys and fourteen for girls. 

(5) Technical and trade courses in high schools. 

^ The descriptions of the schools visited are based partly on observations recorded at 
the time of the visit, partly on statements made to the visitor by teachers and supervisory 
officers, and partly on printed statements in school announcements. An earnest effort was 
made to verify by means of personal observation, whenever possible, statements obtained 
from teachers and printed announcements, and to properly discount certain " overstate- 
ments " made by persons enthusiastically interested in industrial education. 

The schools in this section which were not visited by the committee's representative 
are: The "V^ocational and Trade Schools, Yonkers, New York [p. 177]; The Trade School 
for Machini,sts, Saginaw, Michigan [p. 18.5] ; the High School, Muskegon, Michigan 
[p. 199]; the Munich Continuation Schools [p. 204]. 

12 



162 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

(6) Cooperative courses of the day continuation type- and of 
the alternate-week type. 

The first three types might well be grouped as " intermediate 
industrial schools and courses," since they are intermediate in the 
sense of being preceded by the first five or six elementary grades, 
and of being followed by advanced courses in industrial or other 
schools. 

The schools not specifically mentioned as private schools are 
conducted under public auspices. 

1. Optional Industrial Courses in Grammar School not Interfering 

with Regular Graduation 

1. In grades 6 to 8, inclusive, of the public schools of Alenom- 
onie, Wisconsin, trade instruction of a rudimentary character is 
offered to a few classes in place of the usual courses in manual 
training. This work is being conducted as an experiment by the 
Stout Institute, a training school for teachers of manual training 
and domestic science. The same amount of time per week is given 
to the industrial work as is given to the usual manual training in 
Menomonie. The regular academic work is carried along with the 
industrial work. 

The object of this experiment is to determine the value which 
trade instruction in the grammar grades, as a substitute for manual 
training, has to offer for general training or cultural purposes and 
for vocational preparation for pupils who must leave school at the 
end of the elementary period. The work was given for the first 
time in the year 1909-10. 



2 No description is given of evening continuation courses for the reason that problems 
of organization and curriculum are much simpler for these schools than for the day con- 
tinuation schools, and for the further reason that the demand for evening industrial 
courses is already well recognized in Chicago and excellent courses are in operation. 

A good description of evening industrial courses offered by branches of the Young 
Men's Christian Association and by forty-seven other schools, public and private, may be 
found in Bulletin 11 of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 



163 



Following is an outline of the industrial courses offered : 



Grade 


Courses offered 


Number of weeks 


Minutes per week 


VI 


Problems in practical 
carpentry 

Practical repair work . . . 
Tin smithing 


36 

6 
12 

18 

18 

18 




VII 


120 
180 




180 


VIII 


Bricklaying and concrete- 
work 

Plumbing 


180 
160 




Cabinetwork 


160 



The character of the courses is shown in a more detailed way by 
the following statement of the work : 



GRADE VI 



Carpentry 



Three houses were built in miniature. The smallest, three feet by five 
feet, is a two-story braced frame, with no inside partitions. The middle 
house, six by eight, is a two-story balloon frame, with staircase and closet 
on the first floor. The largest, eight feet by fifteen feet, is a three-room 
bungalow, with full headroom, with a chimney and fireplace put up by the 
bricklaying class, and with plumbing fixtures for the kitchen and bath 
installed by the plumbing class. The large house is to be shingled and clap- 
boarded, upper floors are to be laid, two of the rooms sheathed and one of 
them plastered. 

GRADE VII 

Repair work 

Each boy has set a small window, repaired a broken chair or other piece 
of furniture, refinished a chair, fitted a key to a door or drawer lock, some- 
times repairing small parts of the lock, sharpened an axe or knife or a pair of 
shears or skates, cemented a dish or glued a broken article, polished a piece 
of metal, and soldered a tin dish. Most boys brought articles from home for 
repair. 



Tinsmithing 

Bending square corner, laying out and cutting to line, riveting straight 
joint, soldering holes, soldering straight joint, making soldered square tin 
box, riveting and soldering cylindrical tube, cutting and bending curves, 
making funnel, making tin dust pan with handle, making box with cover, 
making and joining of two square tubes at a 45-degree angle. 



164 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

GRADES VII AND VIII 

Plumbing, bricklaying and concrete work 

Bo3^s in grammar grades, and some in the last two years of the high 
school, worked together in plumbing, bricklaying and concrete work. 

Plumbing included a study of iron pipe and fittings, the running of soil 
pipe with vertical and horizontal joints and a series of soldering exercises. 
Complete installation of school kitchen and chemical laboratory fixtures, 
including the setting up of individual gas stoves, sinks with necessary connec- 
tions, an instantaneous hot-water heater for the kitchen and several lead-lined 
sinks for the laboratory. A good deal of structural and rail work was done 
with iron piping. 

Bricklaying and concrete work included a study of systems of bonding, 
the building of walls and arches of brick and concrete, the building of brick 
chimneys and fireplaces, laying of pavement for a sidewalk, and considerable 
work with cement. 

All the brickwork and plumbing for a small annex to one of the school 
buildings was done by pupils in these classes. 

2. In Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a differentiated curriculum for 
grades 7 and 8, with one-third of the time given to work in manual 
arts, household arts and commercial studies, is offered under the 
auspices of the Fitchburg State Normal School to pupils from any 
part of Fitchburg who have completed the sixth grade. Four 
courses, as outlined below, are offered, the completion of any one of 
which admits to the high school. 

In the Manual Arts Course 10 hours a week are given to draw- 
ing, designing, making and repairing. 

In the Household Arts Course 10 hours a week are given to 
work in domestic art and science. 

In the Commercial Course 5 hours a week are given to book- 
keeping, business forms and procedure, business arithmetic and 
related design, and 5 hours to typewriting and handwork. 

In the Literary Course 5 hours a week are given to a modern 
language, and 5 hours to drawing, designing, making and repairing, 
for the boys, and household arts for the girls. 

In all courses 12^ hours a week are given to English, mathe- 
matics, geography, history and science, and 7^ hours to physical 
training, music, general exercises and recesses. 

The Literary Course is designed for those who expect to go on 
through high school and college. The other courses, while admitting 
to the high school, aim also to give a practical preparation for life- 
work to those who expect to leave school at fourteen years of age. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 165 

The school is in session 30 hours (60 minutes each) a week, and 
was opened for the first time in September, 1909, with 150 pupils. 
Two journeymen carpenters and one painter assist the regular man- 
ual-training instructors in directing the handwork of the boys. Ten 
cents an hour is paid to the boys for repair work done for the school 
outside of school hours. 

A kitchen, dining-room and bedroom are provided for the work 
in homemaking. Following is a statement of handwork undertaken 
in the Manual Arts and Household Arts courses : 

Ordinary repairs 

Faucets in the buildings repacked. Schoolroom desks and tables scraped 
and refinished. Setting glass. Lawn mowers taken apart, cleaned, oiled and 
sharpened. Window; screens painted. Decayed basement floors relaid. 
Broken furniture glued. Chairs reseated. Rubber pads on the stairs taken 
up, turned and retacked. 

Woodworking 

Work benches, looms and sawhorses constructed. Assisted in making 
kitchen tables. Making teachers' desks for entire building. Building parti- 
tions and 300 lockers. 

Painting and finishing 

Steam pipes bronzed to match color of the walls. Floors oiled. Chairs 
for building bought in the white, finished and seated by pupils. Kitchen, 
dining-room, woodworking room and locker rooms painted. Work benches 
and teachers' desks finished. Library room painted and papered. 

Grading and walks 

Work upon the grading, building of concrete walls and granolithic walks. 
Each boy has plotted the grounds and walks and taken levels under competent 
direction. 

Household arts 

The girls have made their needlebooks and workbags, their gymnasium 
suits and the bags to carry them in, also their caps and aprons for cooking. 
They have hemmed the towels for the kitchen, made covers for 18 type- 
writers, and for 170 bean bags to be used in games in the g>'mnasium. They 
have repaired the flags for the school building, darned the rug in the recep- 
tion room, and are to make overalls and jumpers for the boys to use in 
painting. They have cleaned the windows in the kitchen, dining-room and 
sewing-room, cleaned all the basins in the new building, and have reseated 
chairs. 



166 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Applied art for girls 

Stenciling of designs upon workbags and needlebooks. Designing covers 
for and binding books and magazines. Crocheting table mats for dining- 
room and knitting washcloths. 

The practical character of the work in typewriting is shown by 
the following statement : 

Typewriting 

Copying of letters to industrial plants in various towns and cities of 
Massachusetts, asking for material for industrial exhibit. Original letters 
to school children in different parts of New England, telling of Fitchburg 
industries, and requesting replies concerning the industries of their cities. 
Copying letters to parents, explaining courses offered. Manifolding copies 
of poems and songs used in seventh and eighth grades. Copying bills for 
books, school supplies, and materials used at manual arts school. Practice 
in writing business letters and business forms. Typewriting language and 
spelling lessons. 

3. In Boston, Massachusetts, optional industrial courses are pro- 
vided in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, requiring five hours a week, but 
not interfering with the pupils' chances of being graduated in the 
usual time from the elementary school. The industrial work is sub- 
stituted for the regular work in manual training, drawing and arith- 
metic. Four schools offer such courses in woodwork and book- 
binding. One school has 140 pupils in these courses ; another school 
has 75. 

In the eighth grade of one of these schools, two of the five hours 
a week are given to free-hand and mechanical drawing, all bearing 
on the shop projects. In the free-hand drawing, illustrated cata- 
logues of the shop projects were made, similar in character to cata- 
logues of manufacturing firms. 

Following is a list of objects made by one class in three years : 

In Grade VI 

850 pasteboard chalk boxes for the Supply Department 

1,700 pasteboard crayon boxes for use in elementary schools 

500 pasteboard pencil boxes, cloth-covered, for use in high schools 

710 Harvard covers for use in high schools 

846 wooden sand shovels for use in summer playgrounds 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 167 

In Grade VII 

34 portfolios for use in the Evening Industrial School 
333 plasticine boards for modeling classes 

266 wooden looms, 266 heddles, 522 shuttles — for the sixth-grade weav- 
ing of the elementary schools 

100 wooden specimen boxes for use in the Normal School 

36 workboxes 

6 wooden cases for the Evening Industrial School (begun) 

In Grade VIII 

Completion of 6 cases above noted 

100 plasticine boards for modeling classes 

4 window ventilators 

24 wooden trays for cardboard-construction equipment 

100 wooden bench hooks for the Supply Department 

1,000 wooden bench stops for the Supply Department 

600 specimen blocks for the Agassiz School 

2,400 card-catalogue boxes for the School Department (begun) 

In one sixth-grade class of 75 boys and girls in bookbinding, 500 
books from neighboring school libraries were rebound and 2,000 
stenographers' notebooks were made, in nine months, each pupil 
working four hours a week. 

4. In the Washington-Allston Elementary School, Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, the industrial work takes the form of providing a com- 
plete equipment for a model five-room apartment, full size, adjacent 
to the regular school building. There are 600 boys and girls in this 
school, in grades 4 to 8, inclusive. Four hours a week are given to 
industrial work in grades 7 and 8, and two hours a week in the other 
grades. 

The five rooms include a living-room, dining-room, kitchen, bed- 
room and laundry. A garden is connected with the apartment build- 
ing, and contains pear trees, cold frames and about fifty beds of 
various kinds of vegetables. 

The equipment for the five rooms, made and installed by the 
pupils, includes wall coverings of burlap, draperies, shelving, built-in 
cabinets, and window seats ; and about $250 worth of furniture, 
including tables, chairs (some upholstered), beds, bureaus, stands, 
desks and desk sets, hall clock, etc. 

The boys pounded putty into the holes in the old floors, and 
rubbed them with sand, and stained and varnished all the woodwork. 
The boys also made 24 stepladders to be used by the public-school 
janitors. 



168 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

The girls made caps and aprons, and the Hnen articles commonly 
used in dining-room, kitchen and bedroom. The girls also do the 
washing and ironing, sweeping, dusting, cooking and cleaning, and 
make jellies, preserves and soap. 

The courses in design and English are intimately associated with 
the handwork of the pupils. 

5. In New York city manual training centers in elementary 
schools were opened during the year 1909-10, after regular school 
hours, from three to five o'clock afternoons, and on Saturday morn- 
ings, especially for pupils twelve to fourteen years of age who cared 
to come, but also for others. 

2. Grammar Schools and Optional Courses — Abandoning 

Regular Graduation 

1. In Cleveland, Ohio, an elementary industrial school was 
opened in September, 1909, for boys and girls who are at least two 
years behind grade, and who have either completed the sixth grade 
or have failed to be promoted from the sixth grade. The average 
age of pupils is 14.2 years, and most of them are either foreign bom 
or have foreign-born parents. 

The school is in session six hours a day and gives about half of 
the time to English, arithmetic, and geography-history, and half to 
shopwork and drawing. All classes are segregated, and no attempt 
is made to give the same subject matter to girls that is given to boys. 
The course is two years in length with a year or two for specialized 
work to be added if the need arises. No attempt is made to provide 
regular graduation from the elementary school in the usual time. 

The boys have shopwork in wood and sheet metal, mechanical 
and free-hand drawing, and design. The girls have cooking and 
household art, machine and hand sewing, garmentmaking, mechan- 
ical and free-hand drawing, and design. The practical work for 
girls includes plain cooking, serving of meals, infant feeding, invalid 
cookery and preparation of the tray, care of kitchen and dining- 
room, house sanitation, laundrywork, home nursing, household 
accounts, and visits to markets and house-furnishing shops. In sew- 
ing, it is planned to include order work from institutions and from 
individuals. 

Especially interesting work is done in this school in simplifying 
the conventional academic subjects of the elementary curriculum 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 169 

and in relating all that is offered very closely to the shopwork and 
to the industries. A detailed outline of the course in geography- 
history is given on pages 224-226 of this report. 

The holding power of the school is shown by the fact that prac- 
tically none of the pupils have left^ although many have reached the 
legal limit of fourteen years.* 

Comparison of the academic work done by the pupils in May, 
1910, with that done in October, 1910, shows remarkable progress 
in these subjects. Teachers testify that the interest of the pupils in 
the modified schoolwork, and their confidence in themselves, are 
developing beyond their expectations. 

2. In Boston a boys' vocational class of 20 pupils from the 
upper grades of one public school building is conducted by the North 
Bennett Street Industrial School (a social settlement school) in 
cooperation with the public school authorities. For admission to 
this class pupils must be at least thirteen years of age and must have 
reached the fifth grade. 

A little less than half of the school time is given in the first year 
to woodwork, printing and drawing, and the remainder to closely 
related academic work. 

A two-year course in general vocational training is planned, with 
the possible addition of a third year of more specialized and inten- 
sive trade training, with a six or even eight hour day. Work in 
metal is to be included in the shopwork for the second year. 

The following outline of first-year work was given for the first 
time in 1909-10: 

Hours 
per Week 

Shopwork — wood 6 

printing 2 

Mechanical and freehand drawing 2 

Practical mathematics 3^ 

English 2^ 

Spelling 1J4 



Geography — history 2 J^ 

Reading — hygiene 2% 

Recess and general exercises 2^ 

Total 25 

8 Up to May, 1910. 

* Statement of the Superintendent of Schools. 



170 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

3. In two public elementary schools of Boston 10 hours a week 
are given to optional industrial courses in wood and elementary 
metal work. Because of the amount of time per week given to the 
work, pupils in these classes have little or no chance of being gradu- 
ated in the usual time from the elementary school. 

Among the objects made by the class in woodworking are 140 
blackboard rulers, metal handles being made by the class in metal- 
working, and 50 kindergarten chairs. 

In the class in elementary metalwork three of the 10 hours per 
week are given to drawing. Following is a detailed statement of 
work done by the 40 pupils in this class : 

Equipment of shop for benchwork in metal, making over old benches 
and installing simple tools, putting up shelves, etc. 

General repairs in five school buildings in the district 

200 cast-iron backs for high-school chairs, cleaned, drilled, fitted and 
painted 

18 boards, some brass-bound, and 6 clamps, brass or iron bound, for 
bookbinding class 

140 metal handles for blackboard rulers, the wood portion being made 
by the class in woodworking 

75 card receivers for high-school laboratory 

300 checks for toolroom use 

200 drawing needles for sixth-grade rooms 

90 desk wrenches 

90 sets adjustable side desk castings 

Simple templets made. Grinding tools for shop ; also hatchets, knives 
and scissors for home use 



3. Preparatory Trade Schools 

1. The Factory School, Rochester, New York,^ was the first 
industrial school in the State of New York to be conducted by local 
public school authorities under subsidy of the State. It was opened 
December 1, 1908, and ofifers a two-year course in preparatory trade 
training to boys who are at least fourteen years of age and who have 
finished the sixth grade. 

The school is in session forty weeks in the year, 6 hours a day for 
five days in the week. Two-thirds of the school time is given to 

^ The statement of per capita cost, and list of products, and the description of equip- 
ment, are taken from a report furnished by the Director of Industrial Training. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 171 

shop and drawing, and one-third to academic subjects, as shown in 
the following: 

Hours per 
Week 

Shopwork 15 

Drawing 5 

Shop mathematics 5 

English 2^ 

Spelling and industrial history 2^ 

There were 104 boys in the school in May, 1910, 26 each in the 
departments of cabinetmaking, carpentry, electricity, and plumbing. 
There was also a waiting list of over a hundred boys. The faculty 
consists of a principal and six teachers. 

The cost of the school from December 1, 1908, to January 1, 
1910, including the summer session, and not counting the State aid, 
was $61.64 per capita. Reduced to the basis of a ten-months' ses- 
sion this gives a per capita cost of $56.39. In figuring this cost, the 
following items only are included : salaries, material, drawing sup- 
plies, repairs, and a sinking fund of ten per cent of the equipment. 
The sum of $2,939.64, representing the value of the products made 
and the repair work done by the pupils for the Board of Education, 
was subtracted from the total cost of the school, $9,104.02, in arriv- 
ing at the above per capita cost. 

Cabinetmaking Department 

This department is a complete little factory, with its gluing room, machine 
room, assembly room and finishing room 

The equipment of the various rooms is given below : 

Machine room (cost, $1,700) 

Cut-off saw, 2 universal saw tables, band saw, planer, jointer, horizontal 
borer, belt sander, grindstone, motors 

Gluing room (cost, $250) 

Glue heater, warming coil, glue rack, cabinetmakers' benches, clamps and 
hand screws 

Assembly room (cost, $200) 

Cabinetmakers' benches, equipment of special tools, low assembly tables 

Finishing room (cost, $50) 

2 cabinetmakers' benches 
Low tables for lockfitting, etc. 
Stain tables 
Stain jars, brushes, etc. 



172 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

In this department there is division of labor, the boys being promoted 
from one branch of the work to another as soon as a reasonable degree of 
efficiency has been acquired. 

The following articles have been made : 

200 bookcases 25 drawing tables 

18 kindergarten tables 62 sawhorses 

32 sand boxes 25 bench rests 

25 drawing boards 15 miscellaneous articles 

12 sewing boxes 200 looms 

100 toy knitters 700 panels 

Following is a list of articles now being manufactured : 

25 large drawing boards 36 manual training benches 

100 primary looms 12 umbrella racks 

25 pillow looms, with heddles 50 bookcases, two designs, at $10 

100 drawing kits 120 desk chairs 

25 sawhorses 20 sanitar}^ teachers' desks 

50 sewing boxes 12 music cabinets 

Any article to be included in the " line " of products must meet tvv^o con- 
ditions : (1) it must be something needed in the schools and which the Board 
of Education would otherwise purchase; (2) it must have educative value for 
the pupil. Many needed articles are rejected because the making of them 
would teach the boys little or nothing. The instructor of the department 
personally directs the work of the machine room and supervises the work of 
the other rooms largely through boy foremen. 

Electrical Department 

The electrical department aims to give to pupils a thorough course in 
sheet-metal work, in all branches of bell, telephone and light wiring, and the 
installation, operation and repair of A. C. and D. C machines of all kind. 

The equipment at present includes 20 benches, a telephone switchboard, 
D. C. and A. C. motors and generators. Cost, about $700. 

Sixty-three jobs of electrical work were done in various school buildings 
of the city. Typical examples of this work were the replacing of a telephone, 
installing a buzzer, repairing gongs, installing lights, repairing fire alarms, 
installing spotlights, and repairing stereopticon. 

Plumbing Department 

The shopwork in plumbing includes tap and die work, joint wiping, the 
setting of all kinds of fixtures, gasfitting, and heating and ventilating. The 
cost of the equipment is about $300. 

Carpentry Department 

The carpentry course covers all branches of framing and interior finish- 
ing, including stair building. 

The cost of the benches and tools for this department would not exceed 
$200. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 173 

Supplemental Construction and Repair Work 

A most valuable supplement to the shopwork of the school is the con- 
structional and repair work performed by the boys in the various school 
buildings of the city. Daily calls come to the Factory School from the gram- 
mar schools of the city for all manner of repair and installation work. In 
the afternoon groups of boys are sent out to measure up spaces, make 
sketches of work desired, or locate trouble if apparatus is out of order. The 
next day these boys make drawings of the work to be done and bills of mate- 
rial needed. A few days later, under an instructor or a boy foreman, they 
return to the school and complete the work. 

The following are examples of repair work done : 

In electrical work : repairing lights, telephones, fire gongs, motor ; install- 
ing 5 horse-power motor and stereopticon lantern. 

In plumbing: repairing closet tank, automatic tilting tank, broken water 
pipes, leak in flush pipe, sanitary drinking fountain, basin cocks ; connecting 
gas plate, installing basin bowl, removing stoppage in basin waste. 

In carpentry : building partitions in cellar, teachers' lockers, supply cup- 
boards, porch, stormhouse ; laying floors, moving of portable school building. 

The holding power of the school is seen in the fact that of the 
boys in school in June, 1910, 67 per cent returned in the autumn, 
notwithstanding the fact that nearly all were entitled to a work 
permit. 

2. The Vocational School for boys and girls, at Albany, New 
York, offers a four-year course, requiring 6 hours a day for 5 days 
in the week, one-half time being given to shop and drawing, and the 
remainder to closely related academic work. There were 100 pupils 
in the school, and 300 on the waiting list, in jNIay, 1910. Most of 
the pupils enter from grades 6 and 7, and at the age of fourteen ; 
some enter at thirteen years of age. The school was started in 
April, 1909. 

Graduates of the school obtain credit in the apprenticeship sys- 
tem of the New York Central Railroad Company, at West Albany, 
New York, and in that of the General Electric Company, at Schenec- 
tady, New York. 

In the home-making department a dining-room, bedroom, laun- 
dry, kitchen and living-room are provided. The girls prepare, serve, 
and manage the finances of the noon-day luncheon for the school, 
which is furnished to the students at cost. Pies, bread, etc., are 
also made by the girls and sold to private families. In the sewing 
work uniforms are made for the cooking class, overalls for the boys 



174 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

of the shop, curtains and various linen articles for the dining-room, 
bedroom, etc., and a number of flags for the city schools. 

In the woodwork some of the boys make articles to sell to friends 
and neighbors, being paid a certain rate per hour for the work. The 
following is a typical list of other objects made in the wood shops: 

For the Board of Education : 

100 bookcases 100 plant boxes 

100 sand tables 50 wooden guns for military drill 

For the student's own use : 

Incubators Screens 

Brooders Clothes boxes 

The holding power of the school is seen in the fact that of 
the 44 students promoted from second-year work in June, 1910, 50 
per cent returned for third-year work, regardless of the fact that no 
provision was made for their advanced training. These students 
petitioned the Board of Education for advanced training and were 
advised to enter the general high school or to repeat the second 
year's work in the vocational school. About half returned to the 
vocational school and only one of these had dropped out by January, 
1911 ; some entered the high school temporarily. 

Following is the curriculum for the four years : 

Present Course of Study 

Giving better elementary school provision for the vocational needs of 
those likely to enter industrial pursuits. 

First Year 

Corresponding to grade 7 of the elementary school 

Minutes per 
Boys: Week 

Shopwork — joinery and elements of woodworking 600 

Drawing — freehand and mechanical 300 

Practical mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Geography 225 

Opening exercises, music, physiology and study 225 

1,800 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 175 

Minutes per 
Girls: Week 

Sewing — hand and machine, simple garmentmaking 225 

Plain cooking and general housekeeping 450 

Design 225 

Practical mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Geography 225 

Opening exercises, music, physiology and study 225 

1,800 

Second Year 
Corresponding to grade 8 of the elementary school 

Minutes per 
Boys: Week 

Shopwork — cabinetmaking and wood turning 600 

Drawing — freehand and mechanical 300 

Practical mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

History and civics 225 

Opening exercises, music, hygiene and study 225 

1,800 



_., . Minutes per 

G^rls: Week 

Sewing — hand and machine, garment making, embroidery, 

textiles 225 

Cooking (plain, fancy, invalid), housekeeping 450 

Design 225 

Practical mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

History and civics 225 

Opening exercises, music, hygiene and study 225 

1,800 



176 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Proposed Course of Study 

Allowing for special shop, laboratory and drawing-room practice along 
a chosen trade pursuit and thus making provision for the industrial interests 
which have been aroused in the two preceding years. 



Third Year 

Minutes per 
Boys: Week 

Special shop practice in patternmaking and foundry practice, 

or iron work, or electrical wiring and installation 600 

Drawing — mechanical 300 

Applied algebra and geometry 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Mechanics and electricity 225 

Industrial history 150 

Opening exercises and unassigned 75 



1,800 



Minutes per 
Gtrls: Week 

Special work in millinery, or dressmaking, or domestic 

science 600 

Design 300 

Applied mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Practical physics relating to home 225 

Industrial history 150 

Opening exercises and unassigned 75 



1,800 
Fourth Year 

Minutes per 
Boys: Week 

Special shop practice in patternmaking and foundry practice, 

or ironwork, or electrical construction 600 

Drawing — mechanical 300 

Applied algebra and geometry 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Chemistry relating to industry 225 

Economics and industrial conditions 150 

Opening exercises and unassigned 75 

1,800 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 177 

Minutes per 

Girls: Week 

Special work in millinery, or dressmaking, or domestic 

science 600 

Design 300 

Applied mathematics 225 

English literature and composition 225 

Chemistry relating to home and industry 225 

Economics and industrial conditions 150 

Opening exercises and unassigned 75 



1,800 



3. A four-year course in vocational and trade training, similar 
in general organization to the course in the Albany Vocational 
School, is in operation in the Vocational and Trade Schools of Yon- 
kers, New York.® 

At this school vocational and trade courses in machine shop and 
forge rooms are given in addition to courses in printing, cement con- 
struction, pottery, shoe repairing and the usual woodworking 
courses, for the boys, and courses in dressmaking, millinery and 
homemaking for the girls. 

The school has an endowment of nearly half a million dollars, 
but is an integral part of the public school system, and is subsidized 
by the State. The trade school was started in October, 1909, with 
35 boys ; the vocational school for girls, in January, 1910, with 34 
pupils, and the vocational school for boys, in April, 1910, with 52 
pupils. The equipment for the trade school alone cost about $15,000. 

4. Other vocational schools for boys, under subsidy of the State 
of New York, and similar in a general way to those at Rochester, 
Albany and Yonkers, are located at Buffalo and New York city. The 
one in New York city. School No. 100, has a very complete equip- 
ment for machine, forge, plumbing and electrical work, as well as 
for the usual woodworking trades. 

5. The Independent Industrial School, Newton, Massachusetts, 
offers a three-year course in woodwork, machinework, electricity, 
printing and sheet-metal work. For admission, pupils must be at 
least fourteen years of age, and must have reached the sixth grade 
(nine-year system). The average age at entrance is fifteen years. 

^ This school was not visited by the committee's representative. The description given 
was obtained by letter from the director. 

13 



178 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



The school is in session 6^ hours a day, 5 days a week, and 11 
months in the year. About two-thirds of the time is given to shop 
and drawing. In the last year and a half of the course pupils are 
expected to specialize in some particular trade. Pupils may go from 
this school to certain technical courses in the high school."^ 

The school was started in the autumn, 1908, and is supported 
partly by State aid and partly by contributions from a private citizen. 
There are 45 pupils in the school, and three teachers. The per capita 
cost is about $100. 

Nearly all the shopwork at present consists in the construction of 
such school equipment as it is possible for boys to make. Following 
is a statement of shopwork done from September, 1909, to June, 
1910: 

Work done for the Industrial School 



4 sawhorses 

11 drawing tables 

20 boxes for electricity class 
1 filing cabinet for office 

12 desks and seats refinished 
3 boxes for drawing-room 
7 stools for electricity class 
3 sandpaper boxes 

18 ink-bottle stands 
12 nail boxes 
5 waste-baskets 

40 feet of vise benches for machine 
shop 
1 motor shelf and bracket 
Erection of timbers, shafting, 
etc., in machine shop 



1 blue-print frame 
1 oilstone shelf 
1 rack for bits 
40 file handles 
12 chisel handles 
18 switch bases 
18 bench rammers 
18 rapping mallets 
18 trowel handles 
3 doz. sprues 
Built toolroom cases, etc., in ma- 
chine shop 
Lumber racks in woodworking 
room, etc. 
3 stands for electrical work 
5 stands for printing equipment 





Patterns made 


1 gas-forge plate 


1 gas-engine valve 


1 gas forge 


saw gauge, 4 patterns 


1 motor frame 


1 shifter guide for band saw 


1 planer jack 


3 surface plates 


1 lathe attachment 


1 fly-wheel pattern 


1 pulley pattern 


1 piston pattern 




Work done for other schools 


2 filing cabinets 


1 aquarium 


1 sand table 


180 boards for clay modeling 


1 modeling table 


5 taborets for kindergarten 


300 paper boxes 


1 set of blocks for kindergart 



^ For a complete outline of Newton school system, see p. 134. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 179 

6. A preparatory trades school in Columbus, Ohio, for boys who 
are at least fourteen years of age, and who have finished the sixth 
grade, was opened in November, 1909. About two-thirds of the 
time is given to drawing and shopwork in printing and the wood- 
working trades. Courses in machine and electrical work will prob- 
ably be added soon. The products of the shops are largely for school 
use and equipment. There were 64 students in April, 1910. The 
per capita cost is about $100. 

7. The Hebrew Technical Institute^ for boys. New York city, 
is a private institution, established in 1884, and offers a three-year 
technical course, including shopwork in the usual woodworking 
lines, and in machinework, visework on metal, practical electricity 
and related academic subjects. About half of the time is given to 
shop and drawing the first and second years, and two-thirds in the 
third year. 

For admission, pupils must be at least thirteen years of age and 
must have completed the 7B grade. The average age on admission 
is nearly fourteen years. Tvv^o hundred and eighty pupils were 
enrolled in 1909-10. The per capita cost is $115. 

A very complete record has been kept of the occupations and 
weekly earnings of 634 graduates of this school.^ 

8. The Industrial School, at New Bedford, Massachusetts, offers 
a four-year course for boys, the first half of which is given to gen- 
eral vocational training, and the last half to specialized and intensive 
trade training. For admission, the minimum age is fourteen years, 
but no definite academic requirements are set. The average age on 
admission is 15^ years. 

The school was started in September, 1909, and operates under 
subsidy of the State, which pays one-half of the expense of mainte- 
nance. Sessions are 6^ hours a day for 5 days in the week, and 
3^2 hours Saturday morning. Nearly two-thirds of the time the 
first two years is given to shop and drawing. There were 65 pupils 
in May, 1910. The per capita cost is about $150, not counting the 
State aid. 

The work offered for the first two years is as follows. The 

8 This school is classified in this section largely because it corresponds in admission 
requirements more closely to the preparatory trade schools than to the technical schools 
described in a later section, 

» See p. 23G. 



180 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

numbers indicate the number of periods per week given to each 
subject: 

First Year 

Mathematics 4 

English 4 

Shopwork, wood 10 

Drawing 6 

Physical science 6 

Shopwork, metal 10 

Second Year 

Mathematics 4 

English 4 

Drawing 6 

Shopwork, wood 10 

Shopwork, metal 10 

Industrial history 3 

Civics and citizenship 3 

All the academic work is very closely related to the shopwork. 
Boys work in both wood and metal shops from the beginning. Each 
year's work is intended to be a unit in itself, in the sense that noth- 
ing is taught in any one year solely for its value in a later part of 
the course. 

The shopwork is taken up almost entirely with the making of 
the equipment needed by the school. The work in wood includes 
the use of the common bench tools, lathework, patternmaking, etc. 
The work in metal includes benchwork, the construction, operation 
and adjustment of the common machines, and the elements of forg- 
ing. Some of the methods used in the shopwork and in relating the 
academic work to the shopwork are described on page 214 of this 
report. 

9. The Vocational School, Springfield, Massachtlsetts, for boys 
who are at least fourteen years of age and who have finished the 
seventh grade (nine-year system) was started in September, 1909. 
A four-year course is offered, the first two years aiming at general 
vocational training, the last two at specialized and intensive trade 
training. 

The school is in session 40 weeks in the year, 6 hours a day on 
5 days of the week, and 4 hours Saturday morning. About two- 
thirds of the school time is given to shop and drawing. The school 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 181 

is at present^" using for its shopwork the equipment of the Spring- 
field Technical High School. Fifty students were enrolled in May, 
1910. The average age on entrance is fifteen years. 

A one-story house for the use of high-school girls in the house- 
hold arts course is to be built and furnished completely by students 
in the Vocational School and Technical High School. 

10. The Pre-apprentice School of Printing and Bookbinding, 
Boston, offers at present a two-year course in printing to boys from 
grades 7 and 8 of one school, and a course in elementary bookbinding 
to boys and girls from the sixth grade of three schools. These classes 
are ultimately to be formed into an independent school in printing 
and bookbinding, open to pupils from all parts of the city. 

In printing, the school sessions are 35 hours a week, about half 
of the time being given to instruction and practice in printing and 
related drawing, as shown by the following schedule of studies : 

Mathematics (5 hours per week) 

Fundamentals of arithmetic; industrial arithmetic; simple forms of 
bookkeeping and accounting 

English (7 hours per week) 

Compositions on business topics and current events ; business correspond- 
ence ; oral discussions 

Industrial history (3 hours per week) 

Growth and changes in industries ; rise, growth and importance of print- 
ing; industrial progress; organizations of capital and labor; trades unions 
and their relations to industrial progress 

Current events (VA hours per week) 

As related to progress in industrial, educational, social and political life 

Spelling (lJ/2 hours per week) 

As used in business correspondence and in industrial and social life 

Printing (15 hours per week) 

Simplest kinds, suited to beginners, with such progress in subject matter 
and form as age and capabilities of students permit 

Drawing (2 hours per week) 

Form study and design especially adapted to printing and bookbinding 

An outline of the instruction given in the history of printing is 
given on page 221 of this report. 

10 May, 1010. 



182 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Four hours a week are given to bookbinding. The work in 
binding in 1909-10 included the binding of 1,000 small notebooks, 
100 teachers' manuals, and the rebinding of 500 dilapidated books 
from neighboring school libraries. 

During the first year of the school, 1909-10, there were 26 stu- 
dents enrolled in printing, and Q% in bookbinding. 



4. Trade Schools 

A. Under Public Auspices 

1. The School of Trades for Boys, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
offers intensive trade courses, two years in length, in carpentry and 
woodworking, machinework and toolmaking, and patternmaking, 
and a one-year course in plumbing and gasfitting. The school was 
originally conducted by an association of manufacturers, but was 
taken into the public-school system July 1, 1907, and is now sup- 
ported by a special municipal tax, not exceeding one-half mill, in 
accordance with an act of the State legislature. 

For admission, students must be at least sixteen years of age 
and must pass an examination in the elements of arithmetic and 
English, unless they are graduates of the eighth grade. Tuition is 
free to residents of Milwaukee between the ages of sixteen and 
twenty. Residents over twenty years of age pay $5 a month ; non- 
residents pay $15 a month. Students receiving free tuition pay $1 a 
month for material used. The average attendance in the day school 
in February, 1910, was 69 students. The per capita cost is over 
$300. 

The school is in session 50 weeks in the year, 8 hours a day for 
5 days in the week, and 4 hours Saturday morning. About three- 
fourths of the time is given to actual shop practice, and the remain- 
ing time to drawing, shop mathematics and some incidental English. 
The drawing and mathematics are closely adapted to the trade needs, 
each trade being provided with special material for study in these 
subjects. 

The shop products have thus far been mainly used for equip- 
ment, but action was recently taken by the Board of Education 
authorizing the sale of products on the open market at current prices. 
All the carpenter work and plumbing required in the remodeling 
of a factory building purchased for the use of the school has been 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 183 

done by students. The repairing, overhauling and reinstalling of the 
machine-shop equipment, partially destroyed by a recent fire, has 
also been done by students. For this work students were paid by the 
school at a rate per hour determined by their proficiency. 

Because the School of Trades for Boys does not admit students 
under sixteen years of age, the school authorities are attempting to 
bridge the gap between fourteen and sixteen years by offering in 
the first two years of the high school industrial courses preparatory 
to the School of Trades. These courses include applied English, 
algebra, geometry, elementary science, business arithmetic, bookkeep- 
ing, and drawing, shopwork and visits to factories. 

2. The Trade School at Worcester, Massachusetts, was started 
about February 1, 1910, with an equipment costing $30,000. The 
building, together with the lot on which it stands, cost $90,000. 
Four-year courses are offered in cabinetmaking and patternmaking 
and machinework. Plans are also under consideration to offer 
courses in bricklaying and other building trades. 

The school year is divided into 4 terms of 12 weeks each, with 
a vacation of 4 weeks in August. New classes are formed each 
term. Eight hours a day are required, 5 days a week, and 4 hours 
Saturday morning for review work and to make up deficiencies. 
Students work in the school shops one week, and the following week 
in academic subjects and drawing. 

The plan of spending one week in shopwork and the next in 
academic subjects and drawing enables the school to offer half-time 
classes in the academic subjects to boys at work who can arrange 
with their employers to absent themselves from work in alternate 
weeks. Three such pupils were enrolled in these classes in Decem- 
ber, 1910. 

Day continuation classes are also offered to boys at work who 
can arrange with their employers to attend one-half day a week. 
Fifty-eight pupils were enrolled in day continuation classes in Decem- 
ber, 1910. The subjects taught in these classes are shop mathe- 
matics, English, drawing and shop instruction. The latter subject 
includes the study of gearing, belting, tapers, cutting speeds, con- 
struction of machine tools, methods of doing machinework, etc. 

The minimum age for admission is fourteen years. The average 
age on admission was sixteen years one month for the first class 
admitted, and fifteen years eight months for the second. One hun- 
dred and thirteen students were in attendance in December, 1910. 



184 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



The building has a capacity for 300 students. Graduates of the 
grammar school are admitted without examination ; others must 
submit to examination. 

The school is supported by the municipality and by a State sub- 
sidy of one-half the cost of maintenance. Tuition is free to residents 
of Worcester ; non-residents pay tuition as fixed by the State Board 
of Education. The per capita cost is estimated by the manager to be 
between $125 and $150. 

All academic work is closely related to the shopwork and to 
industrial needs. The following figure^^ gives the complete curricu- 
lum for the 16 terms of the four-year course, showing the point at 
which each subject is begun, and the number of weeks and hours 
per week allotted to each subject. 



TfeR.K. 




DIVISION OP WOt^tC . 



WOW.Cg6TgK. T(^A.PE acKOOi-. 



The value of shop products, made in the three months preceding 
May, 1910, was about $1,200. Of this sum, $700 represents the value 
of products made by 50 boys in about three months' time and actually 
sold. The value of the products sold is on the basis of $57 per boy 
for one year. The remaining $500 was the value of products made 
for school equipment. The total value of school equipment made by 
students up to December 1, 1910, was $1,634.50. The school hopes 

" Taken from the Report of the Trustees, November 30, 1910. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 185 

later to be able to pay students for work done on products that are 
sold. 

A typical list of products made and sold by the school is here 
appended. 

100 drill bases planed 
1,700 drill blanks turned 

Cutting several hundred gears 
300 bronze bushings 

120 binder pulley shafts turned and ground 
100 reverse clutches, bored and turned 
50 to 75 lathe tool posts, complete 

Several hundred grinder spindles, complete 
25 sets change gears, 12-inch lathes, complete 
12 11-inch engine lathes, complete 
120 heavy forged screws 

3. The Philadelphia Trades School, opened in 1906, is supported 
by public funds, and offers day courses, three years in length, in 
carpentry, patternmaking, printing, electrical construction, plumb- 
ing and architectural and mechanical drawing. About fifty per cent 
of the school time is given to shop and drawing. The academic 
instruction includes mensuration and algebra, plane and solid geom- 
etry, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, industrial history, English 
and American literature, rhetoric, economics and commercial law. 
Correlation of the academic instruction with shop and industrial 
needs is not made in the academic classroom, but is attempted in shop 
sessions when the need arises. The shop products are not sold. 

The school is open to graduates of the grammar school, but 
others who are at least fifteen years of age may be admitted. The 
average membership in 1909-10 was about 220 in the day classes. 
The first graduating class, in June, 1909, numbered 24. Within one 
year from graduation these 24 pupils were earning an average of 
$9.50 per week. 

4. A Trade School for Machinists, Saginaw, Michigan,^- was 
opened in January, 1910, with 28 students over fifteen years of age. 
The school is administered by the public school authorities, but is 
supported in part by a private contribution of $2,000 for the first 
year's work. The present course of study is three years in length, 
about three-fifths of the time being given to shop and drawing. The 
school day is 5^^ hours in length. 

^2 This school was not visited by the committee's representative. The description given 
is based on a circular issued by the Superintendent of Schools. 



186 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York city, was 
conducted under private ownership from 1902 to September 12, 
1910, when it was opened under the auspices of the public school 
system of New York city. While under private control it was sup- 
ported by voluntary contributions. The description here given refers 
to its work under private control. 

The school aims to prepare the youngest and poorest of women 
workers to be self-supporting in the shortest possible time. Girls 
are, therefore, admitted as soon as they can satisfy the requirements 
of the Child Labor Law of the State : namely, a minimum age of 
fourteen, and the completion of grade 5A of the public schools or 
its equivalent. Sixty-five per cent of the pupils came from grades 
below the eighth in the year 1908. 

The trades taught^^ are dressmaking, millinery, power-machine 
operating on clothing and straw hats, novelty work and trade art. 
The novelty work includes the use of paste and glue in sample 
mounting, sample-book covers, labelling, tissue-paper novelties and 
decorations, the covering and lining of cases and boxes, jewelry and 
silverware casemaking, lamp and candle shade making. The work 
in trade art includes costume sketching, stamping and perforating. 
Drawing is closely related to all trade work. Students are urged to 
learn several lines of work so that during dull seasons in one trade 
other work may be open. Practically all of the shopwork is on 
actual commercial products which are sold to individuals and firms 
at market prices. The value of the products sold in the eighteen 
months from January 1, 1908, to January 1, 1909, was about $24,000. 

The school is in session 48 weeks in the year, 5 days a week, 7 
hours a day. About one-fifth of the time is given to academic 
instruction, including business arithmetic,^'* business English, indus- 
tries and textiles, civics, ethics of trade, and cost of living. Fifteen 
minutes daily are given to vigorous physical exercises to furnish 
relaxation. 

A six-weeks' course in simple cooking in connection with the 
noon luncheon is given to twenty girls at a time who work in groups 
of ten each. 

One year is required in most cases for the completion of a trade 
course. A second year is offered for advanced work. Certificates 

13 Detailed outlines of department work are given in the September, 1909, issue of 
Teachers' College Record. 

1* A book of problems in arithmetic, developed at this school, is described on p. 217 of 
this report. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 187 

to those who have completed a course are given only after satis- 
factory evidence is presented of successful work for at least three 
months in commercial shops. In 1909, 89 certificates were given. 
Tuition is free and financial aid is given to needy students. 

The budget for the year 1908-9 was $49,000, including salaries, 
supplies, printing and maintenance. In that year 943 girls were 
enrolled. In May, 1910, there were about 270 girls in attendance. 
In the power-machine department there are 55 plain electric machines 
and 30 special machines for hemstitching, embroidery, etc. 

A Placement Secretary is employed by the school to secure posi- 
tions for the girls, and to study conditions in the industries, so that 
the work of the school may be kept in touch with the needs of 
employers. In 1909, 90 girls Vv^ere placed in positions in six months. 
The wages of former students in this school and in the Boston Trade 
School for Girls are shown in Fig. 7, page 233. 

6. The Trade School for Girls, Boston, Massachusetts, was 
conducted under private auspices from 1904 to September 15, 1909, 
when it was taken into the public school system. While under 
private control it was supported by voluntary contributions. It is 
now supported by city taxation and by subsidy from the State, which 
pays one-half the cost of maintenance. 

The school is much the same as the Manhattan Trade School in 
the general aim and character of the work. In the Boston school 
pupils are admitted between fourteen and eighteen years of age, but 
no definite academic requirements are set. The actual academic 
status, however, of entering students, has been higher for the 
Boston School than for the New York School, about 34 per cent of 
the students entering the former school in 1908-9 from grades below 
the eighth, as compared with 65 per cent for the New York school 
in 1908. 

Trade courses about one year in length are given in dressmaking, 
millinery and power-machine operating on clothing and stray/ hats. 
A little over one-fourth of the school time is given to academic and 
other supplementary tradework shown below : 

Supplementary work (required of each pupil) 

1. Spelling 

Terms used in trade 

2. Business forms 

Trade problems, bills, accounts, etc. 



188 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

3. Business English 

Application for positions, ordering materials, letters to customers, 
descriptions of costumes, hats, etc. 

4. Textiles 

Processes of manufacture; judging kinds and qualities of materials; 
learning uses, widths, process, etc. 

5. Industrial conditions 

History of local industries, factory laws, hours of labor, ethics of 
business 

6. Color study and design 

Principles applied in copying and planning hats, costumes and other 
garments; judging good and poor design and color combinations; 
selecting materials in color schemes, and making designs for 
simple costumes and for braiding and embroidery 

7. Personal hygiene and gymnastics 

Care of nails, hair, teeth and skin 

Need of proper exercise, fresh air, food and clothing 

8. Cooking 

Planning, preparing and serving the daily luncheon; care of lunch- 
room, kitchen, dishes, closets, towels, etc. 

9. Weekly assembly 

Business talks by director or guests 

The school is in session 7^ hours a day, 5 days in the week, 
12 months in the year. New classes are formed six times a year. 
Tuition is free to residents ; non-residents pay $8 a month. 

A Vocational Assistant is employed by the school to secure posi- 
tions for the graduates and to study needs and conditions in the 
industries. Eighty-five girls were placed in positions in the year 
1909-10, and the demand was so great that 200 could have been 
placed if they had been available. 

Practically all the shopwork is on commercial products sold to 
individuals. The value of the products sold from September 15, 
1909, to February 1, 1910, amoimted to $1,790.61.^^ The per 
capita cost of the school is $126.13, on a twelve-months' basis and 
on an average membership of 226.^^ On a ten-months' basis the per 
capita cost is $105.11.^^ 

" From the Annual Report of the Business Agent for the year ending January 31, 1910. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 189 

7. The Milwaukee Trade School for Girls gives a one and one- 
half-year course in dressmaking, and a one-year course in millinery 
to girls who are at least fourteen years of age and who are able to 
pass simple tests in English and arithmetic. In addition to the shop- 
work, instruction is given in cooking and housekeeping, English, 
shop mathematics, industrial history, art and design, and physical 
culture. 

The tuition and financial support for this school are the same as 
those for the Trade School for Boys.^® The school is in session 
practically all the year for 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. About 
two-thirds of the time is given to shopwork. Some products are 
sold in the open market at current prices. 

The cooking and housekeeping center about the noon luncheon, 
which is prepared, served and managed by the students, and fur- 
nished to them at cost. 

B. Under Private Auspices 

1. The Hebrew Technical School for Girls, New York city, 
offers a Manual Course and a Commercial Course, each eighteen 
months in length. About one-half of the school time is given to 
academic studies. 

For admission to the Commercial Course students must have 
been graduated from the public grammar schools. For admission 
to the Manual Course students must have completed grade 7B, but 
preference is given to graduates of the grammar schools. The aver- 
age age on admission is 14^ years. 

The school is not so strictly limited to trade-school work as 
are the Manhattan and Boston Trade Schools for Girls. In the 
Manual Course instruction is given in dressmaking, millinery, hand 
and machine sewing, embroidery, designing and drawing. Instruc- 
tion is also given in history, English grammar, English literature, 
physiology, cooking, laundry work, housekeeping, physical culture 
and music. At the end of eighteen months graduates of the Manual 
Course may enter the dressmaking workroom and devote their 
entire time to commercial work, for which they receive a salary from 
the school. About 90 per cent of the products of the school are 
sold to institutions and to private individuals. 

The school is in session the entire year from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 
P.M. In 1909 the average membership was about 400 students, with 

" See p. 182. 



190 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

a waiting list of nearly 300. Two-thirds of the students were in the 
commercial course. The per capita cost for 1909 was about $125. 
The school is supported by voluntary contributions. The wages 
received by former students of this school are given on page 234 of 
this report. 

2. The Williamson Free School of I\Iechanical Trades, located 
at Williamson School, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, offers 
courses, three years in length, in bricklaying, carpentry, stationary 
engineering, machinework and patternmaking. 

The school was established in 1888 and has been very successful 
in turning out skilled mechanics. Ninety-five per cent of its 726 
graduates receive at once from sixty to one hundred per cent of 
full journeymen's wages, nearly all receiving the latter in less than 
one year.^^ 

For admission, students must be between sixteen and eighteen 
years of age and must pass examinations in academic subjects of 
grammar-school grade. The school secures a picked body of stu- 
dents because the candidates for admission largely exceed in number 
the capacity of the school. Tuition, boarding, clothing, etc., are 
entirely free. All students are indentured as apprentices for the 
full term of three years. The school year is eleven months in length. 

About one-half of the school time is spent in actual shopwork 
the first two years. In the third year nearly all of the time is given 
to shopwork. The shop products are not sold. The bricklaying 
and carpenter work on several of the school buildings was done by 
the students. 

Academic instruction is given in reading, writing, grammar, 
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, physical and political 
geography. United States history, English literature, physical sci- 
ence, physiology and hygiene, civil government, chemistry, elemen- 
tary vocal music, theory of the steam engine, strength of materials, 
building construction, mechanical and free-hand drawing and esti- 
mating. 

The average membership in 1909-10 was 235 students. The per 
capita cost, figured on the same basis as public school instruction, is 
about $125. 

3. The School for Apprentices and Journeymen, a part of the 
Carnegie Technical Schools, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, oft'ers courses, 

" A further statement concerning the wages of graduates of this school is made in 
connection with Fig. 6, p. 232. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 191 

three years in length, in four machine trades, including pattern- 
making, forge, foundry and machinework, and in six building trades, 
including bricklaying, painting, plumbing, heating and ventilating, 
sheet metal and electric wiring. From forty to fifty per cent of 
the school time is given to actual shopwork. 

Students are admitted to the above courses at a minimum age 
of sixteen years and with an intellectual preparation equivalent to 
a year or two of high-school work. An entrance age of seventeen 
to nineteen years is, however, stated as preferable to insure success- 
ful work in the school. The school year is 30 weeks, 5 days a week, 
6 hours a day. Tuition for residents of Pittsburgh is $33 a year; 
others pay $43. 

A normal course, and courses in mechanical drafting and sta- 
tionary engineering, each three years in length, are also offered. The 
normal course aims to prepare teachers for manual training and 
trade schools. 

The average membership in the above courses in the day school 
was 263 in March, 1910. The per capita cost is about $125. The 
school has graduated 90 students in the four years of its existence. 
The wages received by the graduates immediately after leaving 
school have ranged from $45 to $110 a month, the greater number 
receiving $65 to $70. The shop products are not sold ; some are 
used for school equipment. 

4. The National Trade Schools and Technical Institute (for- 
merly Winona Technical Institute), Indianapolis, Indiana, offers 
two-year courses in printing, pharmacy-chemistry, molding and 
machinework, a one-year course in lithography, and shorter courses 
varying in length from three to nine months, in bricklaying, tile- 
setting and painting. The school of lithography has an excellent 
equipment valued at $23,000. 

Practically no academic work is offered, except supplementary 
science instruction in the two-year courses. In molding, for exam- 
ple, shop lectures are given in the elementary laws of heat, combus- 
tion and gases ; the physical and chemical qualities of molding sands ; 
the mechanical and chemical properties of the different grades of 
pig iron and their mixtures ; the methods of storing and checking 
patterns ; estimates, prices and sources of materials. 

In the machine shop, products are made for sale, and students 
are paid fifty per cent of the selling price for work done on such 



192 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

products. All foundry products are sold, and students in this 
course are paid for shopwork at the rate of 8 cents an hour at the 
beginning of the course. The foundry department is entirely sup- 
ported from the sale of its products. The brick and wood work and 
the electric wiring for six houses in Indianapolis have been done 
by students of the Institute. 

In the machine shop the cooperative plan is in use, a few of the 
students spending alternate weeks in commercial shops and in the 
school shops. 

The school is supported by contributions from manufacturers' 
and employers' associations, by voluntary subscriptions and by a 
tuition fee of $100 in all departments. The minimum age for 
admission is sixteen years. No definite academic requirements are 
set for admission. About 250 students were enrolled in February, 
1910. 

5. The School of Printing, North End Union, Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, shows a very interesting contribution to the solution of 
the problem of the status of the trade-school graduate. A student 
on entering the School of Printing is regularly indentured to a mas- 
ter printer, the school term of one year serving as one of the five 
years in the apprenticeship term. A tuition fee of $100 is charged 
for the year in school. At the beginning of the second year the 
apprentice enters his employer's workshop and receives $9 a week 
for the first half-year, and is regularly advanced in half-year stages 
to $16 a week for the last half of the fifth year. 

Students are admitted to the school at a minimum age of sixteen 
years. The sessions are 48 hours a w^eek for 50 weeks. The school 
is under the supervision of a committee of master printers. The 
instruction embraces book, job and advertising composition, and 
platen-presswork. Eight students were enrolled in 1909. The 
equipment, capable of accommodating 15 students, is valued at 
$2,700. 

6. The short-course trade school is well exemplified by the 
Baron de Hirsh and New York Trade Schools, for boys, and the 
Manhattan^^ and Boston ^^ Trade Schools, for girls. All of these 
schools aim to give in the shortest possible time an intensely prac- 
tical training sufiicient to enable graduates to take positions as 

18 See p. 18G. 
i» See p. 187. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 193 

helpers or improvers and to advance rapidly to full journeyman 
status. A very small portion of the school time is given to academic 
work. 

7. The Baron de Hirsch Trade School, New York city, offers 
courses, 5^ months in length, in carpentry, plumbing, electrical 
work, machinework, house and fresco painting and sign painting. 
The shop products are not sold. 

The sessions are 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Nearly ten per 
cent of the time is given to drawing, mensuration and shop arith- 
metic. Tuition is free. The age requirement for admission is 
sixteen years. The average age on admission is 17^ years. The 
per capita cost for 260 students graduated in one year was $132. 
The school is supported by the income from the Baron de Hirsch 
Fund. 

8. The New York Trade School, New York city, offers day 
courses, four months in length, in plumbing, electrical work, fresco 
painting, sign painting, cornice and skylight work, sheet-metal pat- 
tern drafting, bricklaying, carpentry, steam and hot-water fitting. 
The shop products are not sold. No academic work is given. The 
school is supported by endowment and by tuition fees ranging from 
$25 to $45. The average attendance in day classes in 1909-10 was 
about 135. 

5. TechnicaF and Trade Courses in High Schools 

1. The Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio, opened in 
October, 1908, gives one-half of the school time to shop and drawing 
in the first three years, and two-thirds in the fourth year. The shop- 
work for boys in the first two and one-third 3'ears includes general 
courses in turning, cabinetmaking, pattemmaking, foundry, forge 
and machine work. In the last part of the third year, and through- 
out the fourth year, specialization in a particular trade will be per- 
mitted, perhaps on the cooperative plan of one week in commercial 
shops and the next week in school. A course in practical printing 
and bookbinding will be offered as a fourth-year elective. The shop 
products are not sold ; some are used for equipment. 

The handwork for girls includes applied art, dressmaking, mil- 
linery, laundry, cooking and catering, with specialization allowed 
in the third and fourth years. 

^ For a discussion of the distinction between technical and manual-training high 
schools, see the report on The Place of Industries in Public Education, by a Committee of 
the National Council of Education, July, 1910. 

14 



194 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Preparation for college is not the dominating aim of the school. 
Four colleges, however, admit graduates to the college technical 
courses, on recommendation of the principal. 

The academic subjects are not treated in the usual manner. The 
mathematics, for example, is taught more as a tool for use in the 
shops and in industry, than as an abstract science, and the various 
branches, arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry are inter- 
woven into a single subject. The science courses are likewise 
treated as applied science. German is the only language offered, 
other than English. Outlines of the courses in physics and mathe- 
matics are given on pages 217, 228 of this report. 

Since all subjects are treated largely with respect to their appli- 
cations, and since the applications which are of interest and value 
to boys differ greatly from those which are of interest and value to 
girls, all classes in the school are segregated. 

The school year is divided into four quarters of twelve weeks 
each, and new classes are formed each quarter. 

All shop instructors have had more or less practical experience 
in commercial shops. 

This school and the High School of Commerce, which was started 
in October, 1909, have been largely instrumental in bringing about 
an increase of 1,002, or 20 per cent, in the total high-school enrol- 
ment in Cleveland, whereas in the three years preceding the opening 
of the Technical High School, the enrolment in high schools had 
remained practically stationary. ^^ In the Technical High School 
the enrolment in 1909-10 was 1,103. 

2. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, is a part of the public school system, and gives a little 
over half the time to handwork, including applied art.^^ In the first 
year all students take the same work, which includes handwork in 
sewing, cooking and housewifery and applied art. In the last three 
years vocational courses are elected in dressmaking, millinery or 
household science. 

2^ The figures as furnished by the Superintendent of Schools are shown in the follow- 
ing table: 

High-school attendance, Cleveland, Ohio. 



Total hiafh-school enrolment 

Total population of school age. . . . 



1905-6 



4,983 
121,883 



1908-7 



5,059 
125,368 



1907-8 



4,989 
128,043 



1908-9 



5,516 
129,030 



1909-10 



5.991 



-2 A description of the course in drawing is given on p. 218. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 195 

The academic work is the same for all students throughout the 
four years, and includes English, history, mathematics, science, 
French and German. The school does not prepare for college. 

Science and mathematics are taught largely through their appli- 
cations to the home and industrial needs of the girls. In history 
special attention is given to the development of art and industry. 

The school was organized in September, 1907, and is open to 
graduates of the grammar school. Three hundred and sixty students 
were in attendance in May, 1910. The number of applications for 
admission to the school in 1909-10 was double the number that could 
be accommodated. The shop products are not sold. The per capita 
cost for the year ending January 31, 1910, was $85.66.^^ The cor- 
responding per capita cost of all normal, Latin and high schools in 
the city was $78.81.-'^ The school sessions are 5}i hours a day, 5 
days in the wxek, for the regular school year. 

3. In Cincinnati, Ohio, a Boys' Industrial Course and a Girls' 
Industrial Course are given in each of two high schools, which offer 
also the usual academic and manual training courses. ^^ 

In the industrial courses the usual four years' work in manual 
training, for the boys, and in domestic science and arts, for the girls, 
is completed in the first two years. For this purpose about five- 
eighths of the school time the first two years is given to shop and 
drawing, for the boys, and to handwork, including applied art, for 
the girls. All classes are segregated. In the last two years the stu- 
dents specialize in some trade as apprentices in commercial shops 
or stores, under pay, spending alternate weeks in school and shop. 

The courses are offered for the first time in 1910-11. The sub- 
jects of study and the distribution of time are shown in the following 
outline : 



^ Exclusive of repairs, rent, administration and supervision. Taken from the Annual 
Report of Business Agent. 

2* Annual Report of Business Agent. 

^ For the relation of the administration of the industrial courses to the regular high- 
school administration, see p. 210. 



196 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Boys' Industrial Course 



First Year 


Second Year 


Third Year 


Fourth Year 


English 4 


English 


4 


Chemistry 10 


History (indus- 


Arithmetic and 


Applied mathe- 




English 2 


trial of U. S.) 


algebra 4 


matics 


4 


Drawing 10 


and civics .... 5 


Industrial geog- 


Physics 


4 


Applied m a t h e - 


Shop science and 


raphy 4 


Drawing 


4 


matics, shop 


shop practice.. .10 


Drawing 4 


Foundry, forge 




problems and 


Drawing 10 


Turning, pattern 


and machine. . . 


16 


practice 10 


Applied m a t h e - 


and cabinet 


Physical training 




Cooperative plan: 


matics and shop 


making 16 


(optional) .... 


2 


Alternate weeks 


problems 10 


Physical training 






in shop and 


Cooperative plan: 


(optional) .... 2 






school 


Alternate weeks 
in shop and 

school 



Girls' Industrial Course 



First Year 



English 5 

Arithmetic and 

algebra 5 

Applied art 5 

Cooking 4 

Sewing 8 

Physical training. 2 

Music 1 



Second Year 



English 4 

Geometry and 

arithmetic 4 

Chemistry 5 

Applied art 2 

Cooking and 

household arts. . 6 
Millinery and 

dressmaking ... 8 

Physical training. 2 

Music 1 



Third Year 



English 4 

Physiology 4 

Applied art 5 

Elect specialty. . .20 
Millinery, etc. 
Dressmaking, tail- 
oring and art 
needlework; home 
economics; office 
training; sales- 
manship 



Fourth Year 



American history 

and civics 5 

English 4 

Applied art 5 

Elect specialty. . .20 



4. The Technical High School, Newton, Massachusetts, offers 
the following five courses :^^ 

Technology-college Course, leading to colleges and schools of 
technology. 

Technical Course 
Extra Technical Course 
Fine Arts Course 
Commercial Course 



Not leading to college. 



Students in the academic high school, located near the Technical 
High School, may take optional courses in manual training in the 
Technical High School. 



For the outline of the entire high-school curriculum, see p. 134. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 197 

In the Extra Technical Course for boys and girls the usual four 
years' work in manual training for boys, and in domestic science 
and art for girls, is completed in the first three years. For this pur- 
pose a little over one-half of the time is given to shop and drawing, 
for boys, and to handwork, including design, for girls. In the fourth 
year specialization in the shopwork is permitted. Individual pupils 
may arrange to do this specialized work in commercial shops on 
some kind of a part-time plan. 

The Technical High School was opened for the first time in Sep- 
tember, 1909, with 500 students enrolled. All shop teachers have 
had more or less experience in commercial shops. The shop prod- 
ucts are not sold. About fifty per cent of the products the first year 
were used for school equipment, including T-squares, drawing- 
boards, suit-case toolboxes for individual students, drawer equip- 
ment, apparatus for physics laboratory, etc. 

An outline of the subjects of study, and of the distribution of 
time, is herewith appended. The outline shows three applied aca- 
demic subjects : in the third year, shop mathematics and mechanics ; 
in the fourth year a course in arithmetic and accounts and a course 
in applied mechanics and steam. 



EXTRA TECHNICAL COURSE 

Purpose of the course: This course prepares for work in the productive 
industries. 

FIRST YEAR Also elect one group 

Periods Periods 

'Physics 5 

Light machine and visework,^ 

Vz year llO 

Forging, 3^ year J 

„ , Mechanical drawing 4 

Elect one group )-d- i j i. • ^ 

^ ^ j Biology and chemistry 5 

Cabinetmaking and wood turning. 10 I Household economics 10 

Mechanical drawing 4 Design 4 

Household economics 10 



English 4 

Elementary science 5 

History or arithmetic and algebra. 4 

Singing and physical training 2 



Design 4 



THIRD YEAR 



SECOND YEAR 

English 4 English 4 

Geometry or history 4 Commercial geography and history. 5 



198 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



THIRD YEAR 

Elect one group 

'Shop math, and mechanics 5 

Patternmaking and molding, ^^ 

year llO 

Machine-shop practice, ^ year.. J 

Mechanical drawing 4 

Chemistry and physiology 5 

Household economics 10 

Design 4 

FOURTH YEAR 

English 4 

American history and government. 4 

Arithmetic and accounts 2 

Elect 18-20 periods 

Algebra and geometry 4 

Chemistry 6 

Physics 6 

Physiology and hygiene 4 

Biology 5 

Electricity 6 

Applied mechanics and steam 4 

Trigonometry 4 



Stenography 5 

Typewriting 5 

Bookkeeping 5 

Cabinetwork 6-10 

Forgework 6-10 

Toolmaking 6-10 

Patternmaking 6-10 

General machine-shop practice. . .6-10 
Machine or architectural draw- 
ing 4-10 

Dressmaking 6-10 

Millinery 6-10 

Dietetics 5 

Foods 5 

Laundering 5 

Catering and lunch-room prac- 
tice 6-10 

Design 4-10 

In place of a part of the elective 
requirements of this year, individual 
pupils may engage in approved ivork 
— of educative value — outside of 
school. 



Note. — With the approval of the principal, a practical study of the ele- 
ments of gardening and forestry may be substituted for a portion of the pre- 
scribed work of the first three years, and may be taken as a 6-10 period, 
elective in the fourth year. 



5. The Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts,^^ 
ofifers a technical course for boys, and one for girls, in v^hich about 
one-half of the school time is given to shop and drawing, throughout 
the four years, with specialization in a particular shop in the fourth 

2^ The technical high schools at Newton and Springfield, Massachusetts, are good 
examples of high schools which provide college preparation in manual training and other 
courses, but endeavor also to give special technical courses for pupils who wish to enter 
the industries immediately after graduation. Such efforts are, of course, commendable. 
There is, however, considerable debate at present as to whether courses so organized can, 
under present conditions, meet the need for specialized technical training on the secondary 
level as fully as that need ought to be met; whether both the academic and the shop 
instruction can be adapted to industrial needs as closely and completely under such a 
plan as under a more isolated form of organization such as is shown by the Cleveland 
and Cincinnati high schools and the Boston High School of Practical Arts for Girls. It 
is largely a question of the extent to which college-entrance requirements and traditional 
academic standards may interfere with the complete development of the specialized tech- 
nical course on its own merits, especially in its present experimental stage. It will there- 
fore be interesting to watch the future development of the five schools mentioned, because 
they represent definite efforts to solve the problem in distinctly different ways. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 199 

year. A house for the use of girls in the domestic science and art 
courses is to be erected on the school premises. It is to be built, 
equipped and furnished completely by the boys and girls in the high 
school assisted by the boys in the Vocational School.^® 

6. Afternoon industrial classes, Boston, Massachusetts, are 
offered in two high schools : in one, a course in jewelry and silver- 
smithing is offered ; in the other, elementary electric manufacturing. 
The courses were started in September, 1909. Admission is limited 
to students regularly enrolled in the high school who have had a 
year or two of drawing and manual training. Each student pays for 
the material used, and will own the product of his work. About 
four hours a week are given to this work, and regular credit toward 
graduation is granted. 

In the class in jewelry and silversmithing 22 students were 
enrolled in May, 1910. The work consists of (1) drawing a design 
of the object to be made, (2) modeling the object in plasticine, (3) 
making the finished object in metal. Some of the products made 
were jewelry-boxes, paper-knives, pad-corners, desk sets with orna- 
mental designs, scarfpins out of silver wire, necklaces, silver rings 
set with inexpensive stones, copper charms, inkwells, fobs, etc. The 
cost of this course is less than that of the regular manual training 
course. 

7. In the high school at Menomonie, Wisconsin, elective courses, 
each two years in length, are offered in the third and fourth years 
in machine-shop practice, machine drafting, architectural drafting, 
plumbing and bricklaying. Seven and one-half hours a week, for 
the regular school term, are given to this work. The regular manual 
training, including cabinetmaking, turning, patternmaking and foun- 
dry practice, is offered in the first and second years. In the year 
1910-11 a house was to be built for a citizen of Menomonie by mem- 
bers of the sophomore class in the high school. All the carpenter 
work for this house, and the bricklaying, plumbing, decorating, fit- 
ting, etc., is to be done by the high-school students. 

8. In the high school at Muskegon, Michigan,-^ a three-year 
elective course in printing is given in grades 9, 10 and 11, requiring 
1^ hours a day for five days in the week. Thirty-five students were 

2^ For a description of the \'ocational School, see p. ISO. 

2® This school was not visited by the committee's representative. The information was 
obtained from the Superintendent of Schools. 



200 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

enrolled in February, 1910. The equipment, capable of accommodat- 
ing 12 students at one time, is valued at $1,200. The students print 
school blanks, the school paper, physics exercises, etc. 



6. Co-operative Schools and Courses 

A. Day Continuation Schools^*^ 

1. The Day Continuation School, Cincinnati, Ohio, is supported 
entirely by the public school authorities and offers supplementary 
instruction to about 200 apprentices from 18 different machine shops 
who give four hours a week to this study, during working hours, 
Vv^ithout loss of pay. The students are divided into nine groups, 
each group meeting one-half day a week for 48 weeks. The course 
is four years long, corresponding to the regular apprenticeship term. 
No toolwork is given in school. 

The course of study is as follows : 

For first-year apprentices 

Shop arithmetic 

Geographic relations of shop materials 
Making and reading drawings 
Much reading, spelling, writing 

For second-year apprentices 

Objective geometry 

Iron, its manufacture and founding 

Shop conventionalities and their necessity 

Composition on shop topics ; lives of industrial leaders 

For third-year apprentices 

Algebra 

Physics 

Foreman's question box 

History, literature and civics 

For fourth-year apprentices 

Trigonometry 

Physics 

Shop practice 

Debating; man as wage-earner and voter 

^ Although the schools under 2 and 3 of this section are commercial, not industrial, 
in character, they are here included because of the light they may throw upon the general 
problem of the organization of day continuation schools. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 201 

The school was started in September, 1909. Two teachers are 
employed. One teacher is allowed two half-days a week to visit 
shops, consult with foremen, and gather practical shop problems. 
The manufacturers furnish blue-prints and catalogues of machines 
for the students to study. The cost of the school is about $2,000 
a year. 

The following quotation from the superintendent's report gives 
an idea of the value of the work. 

In most cases the output of the boys in the shops is greater than when 
they worked full time. Their attitude toward their employer, the foreman 
and the machine is wholly changed. In the school the boys show commend- 
able progress and a remarkably earnest and serious spirit. The boy just 
entering this apprenticeship appreciates it least, but a few weeks of shop 
life change his attitude toward the school, as with the older boys a few 
weeks of the school change their attitude toward the shop. When the boys 
return to their shops they are quizzed by the workmen and foremen, and the 
lessons given in the school are quite generally discussed in the shops. Many 
of the workmen express a desire to have the advantages of such schooling. 

It is believed the number of manufacturing firms now cooperating will 
be doubled when the school is properly housed and a sufficient staff of 
teachers is appointed. 

An extension of the continuation-school idea is contemplated. There are 
at least 15,000 young people under twenty years of age now at work in com- 
mercial and industrial lines in this city who would be greatly benefited by 
having an opportunity to continue their schooling. The evening schools 
reach about 5,000. At least 10,000 need looking after. 

The Women Teachers' Club has a capable committee now at work to see 
what can be done for girls. It is hoped that by next September we may have 
the demand for a continuation school for young women in stores and fac- 
tories.31 

2. Day continuation classes in Boston, Massachusetts, are pro- 
vided by the public school authorities for young men and women 
already at work whose employers permit them to attend the classes 
during working hours, without loss of pay. The courses offered, 
with the time schedules, are as follows : 

Shoe and Leather — Tuesdays and Thursdays 3 to 5 p.m. 

Dry Goods — Mondays and Fridays 3 to 5 p.m. 

Preparatory Salesmanship : 

Boys — Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:30 to 11 a.m. 

Girls — Wednesdays and Fridays 8:30 to 11 a.m. 

*^ A continuation school for saleswomen and one for children at work between four- 
teen and sixteen years of age were established in January, 1911. 



202 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Each course at present is ten weeks in length. The only expense 
assumed by the School Committee is the salary of the Director, and 
the rent, care and furnishing of the rooms. An advisory committee 
for each of the industries concerned assumes the responsibility of 
securing experts in the industry to give the instruction. 

The courses were started in April, 1910. In the dry-goods and in 
the shoe and leather courses the instruction is given solely by 
employers and experts in the industry. In the courses in prepara- 
tory salesmanship the instruction is given by one of the public- 
school teachers, especially fitted for the work, supplemented by talks 
by heads of departments and experts in various dry-goods houses. 
It is planned to develop instructors from the present student body 
to take the place of the experts now giving the instruction. An out- 
line of the courses of study is here given. 

Shoe and Leather Course 

The production and distribution of leather ; tanning processes ; leather 
manufacture ; recognition of kinds, grades and comparative values of 
leathers ; manufacture and classification of shoes ; commercial arithmetic ; 
commercial geography; commercial correspondence; salesmanship; efficiency 
training. 

Dry-goods Course 

Fibers ; cotton and cotton goods ; wool, worsteds and woolens ; silk and 
silk fabrics ; linen and linen fabrics ; recognition and comparison of mixed 
fabrics; simple tests for determining quality; coloring materials and color 
preservation; shrinking; mercerization ; non-inflammable fabrics; care of 
stock; commercial arithmetic; commercial geography; commercial corre- 
spondence ; salesmanship ; efficiency training. 

Preparatory Salesmanship 

Commercial correspondence ; facility in oral and written expression ; 
store arithmetic; sales-slip practice; sources of merchandise and its dis- 
tribution; raw materials ; textiles; penmanship; color and design; hygiene; 
practical talks on the fundamental principles of success ; salesmanship. 

The various lecturers bring large quantities of material to the 
classes for illustrating their talks. This material includes leathers, 
shoes and fabrics in all stages of manufacture. They also make 
considerable use of the blackboard. All these lectures are steno- 
graphically recorded and kept for future use. Reports are made to 
employers on the progress of the pupils. 

Persons over eighteen years of age are not admitted to the class 
in preparatory salesmanship. The ages of the students in the other 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 203 

classes range from fifteen or seventeen to twenty-eight or thirty. 
Each class is composed of from forty to fifty students. A few are 
college graduates, but the majority have not been graduated from 
the high school. 

Additional courses are under consideration for bank clerks and 
for persons in the w'ool industry. 

3. The School of Salesmanship for Girls, Boston, Massachu- 
setts, is conducted by the Women's Educational and Industrial 
Union in cooperation with five department stores. Each store sends 
six students from its regular force to the school for the course, 
which is three months, daily except Monday, from 8 :30 to 11 :30 a.m. 
The full wage, $6 or more, is paid by the store to the student while 
she attends the school. 

The purpose of the course is: (1) to teach right thinking 
toward the work as a profession and arouse a feeling of responsibil- 
ity; (2) to develop a pleasing personality; (3) to instil a regard 
for system and cultivate a habit of attention to details ; (4) to 
instruct in those subjects which increase knowledge of goods to be 
sold. 

The subjects taught are: 

Salesmanship, which includes discussion of store experience, demonstra- 
tion of actual selling in class and lectures by representatives of the firms 
interested. 

Hygiene, which includes study of daily menus, ventilation, bathing, sleep, 
exercise and recreation. 

English, including spelling and business forms. 

Arithmetic, which includes sales-slip practice, business arithmetic, busi- 
ness forms and cash account. 

Stock, which includes a study of the nature of cloths, and processes of 
manufacture, color and design as applied to ribbons, display of goods in 
showcase, etc. 

Practical talks by representatives of the firms interested, experi- 
enced salespeople, buyers, customers and superintendents, are given 
twice a week to the class on subjects such as " The Department 
Store's System and the Saleswoman's Place in It," " How to Show 
Goods," "Trifles," "Textiles," "Service to Customers," "Cus- 
tomer's Point of View." 

The demonstration sales are conducted like the practice teaching 
in normal schools. Real customers, chosen because they represent 
dift'erent types, buy real articles. The sale is watched by the class, 



204 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

notes being taken of strong and weak points. When the sale is fin- 
ished, the one who has made the sale is allowed to criticize her own 
work, and then the class criticizes, the customer tells why she did 
or did not buy the article, and the whole is summed up by the 
Director. 

As far as possible, the classwork is correlated ; the drawing is 
a store plan or a design for a costume ; the note-book work required 
gives material for English, including spelling, names and addresses, 
punctuation, penmanship and store English (and French) ; when the 
girls are sent to the stores for samples, salesmanship, color, designs, 
textiles are studied. The manner of the salesman in giving the 
sample is observed and reported, the color and design are used in 
the color lesson, and the material in the textile Vv^ork. If the textile 
being studied is wool, one of the store lectures at that time will be 
on wool or woolen goods. 

The school was started in 1906. An advisory committee repre- 
senting the cooperating firms aids in determining the policy of the 
school. For admission, girls must be at least eighteen years of age 
and must have a good fundamental education. Ninety students were 
graduated in 1909. 

The attitude of the cooperating stores toward the school training 
is shown by the fact that some superintendents already admit that 
three well-trained saleswomen can manage a counter better than six 
indifferent ones, and the well-trained, with good salaries, cost the 
store no more than the inefiicient six. 

4. The importance of providing day continuation schools for 
those at work in unskilled industries justifies the insertion at this 
place of the following statement of the organization and curriculum 
for such schools in Munich, Germany."^ 

District Continuation Schools 
Fundamental Features 

a. Attendance is for those who have spent eight years in a weekday 
school. This course comprises two years ; the total compulsory school 
attendance is therefore ten years. 

b. Attendance is required of all boys who are compelled to attend a 
Sunday vocational school, and who live or work in ]\Iunich, provided they 

22 Translated from Organisation und Lchrplune dcr Obligatorischen Fach-und Fort- 
bildungsschulcn fi'tr Knaben in Milnchen, 1910. Outlines of the continuation schools for 
building-trade workers, in Munich, are given on p. 119 ff. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 205 

do not attend any other vocational school or are not for some good reason 
excused from compulsory attendance. 

c. Instruction in the district continuation schools is given on weekdays. 

d. Courses of instruction are given in the following subjects: 



Courses 



Religion 

Composition and reading^ 

Arithmetic^ 

Life and citizenship 

Gymnastics and gymnastic games, swimming. 
Manual training and drawing 



Hours of instruction 



Class I 


Class II 


1 


1 


1 


1 


2 


2 


1 


1 


1 


1 


2 


2 



Subject Matter 

a. Religion. The instruction is prescribed by the church authorities. 

b. Composition, with reading. Through the course in composition the 
pupil should acquire the ability to write the most important private and busi- 
ness letters and papers correctly as to grammar, syntax and orthography. 

Class I. The private letter: Communication- to members of the family, 
to relatives and friends concerning the life and experience of the pupil, 
also on school topics. Asking for and giving information, help wanted, appli- 
cations for work ; advertisements, price inquiries, ordering of goods and 
labor ; different forms of letter writing. 

Class II. Labor contracts, bills, receipts, complaints, excuses, testimonials, 
recommendations ; compositions about debt relations, buying on credit, prom- 
issory notes, requests and demands for payment of bills, discounts ; written 
communications to officials. Diary notes from the pupil's daily experiences. 
Various forms of bills of lading. The instruction in reading, together with 
that in life and citizenship, aims to aid the moral and general education 
of the pupils, and to instil in them pleasure and taste for good literature. 
For this reason the school library is to be used. From time to time a com- 
plete work of the German classical period is to be read. The selection of the 
reading is in the hands of the teachers. 

c. Arithmetic. The instruction in arithmetic should give the pupil an 
understanding of how to conduct a household properly; it should awaken 
in him a desire for economy, and give him a suitable facility in industrial 
arithmetic. 

Class I. Arithmetic necessary for the home and business of a trade 
worker : Earnings of a workingman by hours, days, weeks, months and 
years ; the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly expenses of a single person 
and of a family; wage book, household-account book, balance for the month, 
for the year, savings accounts and interest, estimates for buying and selling, 
loss and gain, rebate, business expenses. 

^ The number of hours in composition and arithmetic is interchanged in alternate 
weeks. 



206 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Class II. Bills relating to taxes and insurance. Simple problems on 
surfaces and solids in connection with manual training. Drafts and checks. 
Simple bookkeeping for a business during one month. 

d. Life and citizenship. This instruction aims to give the pupil an 
insight into a rational mode of living. Therefore it teaches hygiene, the 
problems of life in vocation, community and state, and above all it teaches 
those things out of which the pupil gains a knowledge of the necessary inter- 
relations of the interests of all classes and vocations. 

Class I. Relation of an apprentice to his work and master, apprentice- 
ship indenture. Instruction in deportment : Conduct at home, in school, on 
the street, in society, toward superiors, employer and master. Hygiene : 
Structure of the human body in general; nutrition; injurious and nutritious 
food; respiration and blood circulation; care of the skin, mouth and teeth; 
dwelling and clothing; work and recreation; care of habits and the nerve 
system. First aid to the injured. The most important causes of disease; 
value of cleanliness. 

Class II. History of handwork in general. The old guilds. Present 
status of the trades. The present trade unions. Division of labor. Working 
for wages. Importance and value of every kind of honorable labor to the 
individual, as well as to the community and nation. The community, prob- 
lems of the community, social and economic institutions, rights and duties of 
a citizen of the community, positions of honor and trust. The state, problems 
of the confederation of states, the Bavarian government, duties and rights of 
a citizen of the state, positions of honor and trust. The German empire, 
foundation and constitution, problems of the empire, social laws, trade and 
commerce in modern times, German colonies, value of consuls in foreign 
lands. 

e. Gymnastics, games and swimming. Gymnastics, with games and 
swimming, aims to rectify the one-sided muscle development, which is often 
acquired by unskilled labor, and developed into awkwardness and clumsiness. 
Agility and skill is developed, and a sense for order and relationship to the 
whole fostered. It shall awaken healthy ambition, exercise the will and self- 
discipline. 

Classes I and II. In the winter semester will be given exercises on appa- 
ratus, such as wands, dumbbells, ladders, horizontal and parallel bars, as well 
as weight lifting. The work is to be given on a gradually advancing scale. 
During the winter semester athletic games are emphasized, as baseball, etc. 
After a course of dry swimming, which is given in the gymnasium, methodical 
instruction is given at the different bathing places of the city. 

f. Manual training, with drawing. Instruction in manual training 
develops appreciation of manual work and the joy in craftsmanship, and 
brings, as far as possible, unskilled laborers or those without any occupation 
into the class of skilled labor. Above all, it aims at exactness in the work, 
helps the pupil to understand the raw materials most frequently used in 
industry, as wood and iron, and the use of tools. Instruction in drawing is 
closely connected with manual training. For those pupils who have not had 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 207 

instruction in drawing before entering the continuation school, a short intro- 
ductory course is provided which familiarizes the pupil with the use of 
ruler, angle and drawing instruments. The subject matter includes straight- 
line plane figures and ornamental figures with circular forms. Working 
drawings of shop products are also made. Sometimes scale drawings are 
undertaken. The shop projects are sometimes made from blue-prints. Those 
pupils who have had manual training in the last year of the grade school 
are given training in both wood and iron, and therefore change workshops 
after the first year. All other pupils are taught in only one line for two 
years, parents making the selection. 

Woodwork: Class I. Raw material in its essential characteristics. Tools 
for clamping, measuring and working. Processes of sawing, planing, drilling, 
chiseling, etc. ; making of exercises and simple, useful articles. Class II. The 
most important European and foreign kinds of wood; defects and diseases 
of wood; wood as an article of commerce. The common wood joints. Table 
and chair joints. Simple, useful articles. 

Metalwork: Class I. Raw materials, production, the most important 
characteristics. Tools for clamping, measuring and working. Processes of 
marking, cutting, filing, planing, thread-cutting, bending, drilling, etc. Making 
of exercises and simple, useful articles. Class II. Further consideration of 
raw materials. Processes : More advanced work than in Class I, then thread- 
cutting, cold bending, riveting, grooving, soldering, etc. Simple, useful 
articles, 

B. Alternate-week Courses 

1. The Beverly Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 
offers, in cooperation with the United Shoe Machinery Company, 
a course of instruction in the machinist trade. The students spend 
alternate weeks in school and factory. The school-day is 8 hours, 
with Saturday holiday, and no home lessons. Factory hours and 
discipline are the same as for regular employees. 

Fifty students are enrolled and are divided into two groups. The 
machinist-instructor for each group teaches that group in the factory 
one week, and the next week teaches the drawing, mathematics and 
science to the same group in school. Regular high-school teachers 
also give instruction in English, civics, industrial economics, business 
forms and practices, etc. 

In the factory the student works on the regular factory prod- 
ucts — shoe machinery — the raw material being furnished by the 
factory. The product of the student's work is inspected by regular 
factory inspectors and is put into the company's stock. One-half 
the regular piece-price for all his product that passes inspection is 
paid to each student by the factory ; the other half is devoted to the 
maintenance of the shop. 



208 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

The factory furnishes the shop equipment and pays the salary 
of the shop instructor while he is in the shop. In case a profit should 
accrue to the factory from the sale of products made by students, 
over and above the cost of maintaining the factory shop, such excess 
profit is to be devoted to the support of the school. 

The school was started in August, 1909. For admission, pupils 
must be at least fourteen years of age and must have completed the 
sixth grade. The minimum age for admission will probably soon be 
raised to sixteen years because of the immaturity of the boys of 
fourteen and fifteen. No apprenticeship agreement or indenture is 
made. The school is under subsidy of the State, which pays one- 
half the annual cost to the city. 

2. The cooperative course at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, is a 
four-year high-school course, the last three years being arranged so 
that each pupil spends alternate weeks in factory and school. The 
first year of the course is spent entirely in school. For admission, 
students must be graduates of the grammar school. 

Seven firms, manufacturers of machinery, originally entered into 
the plan, requiring regular three-year apprenticeship indentures to 
be made with the students, by which they are to receive for the shop- 
work 10 cents an hour the first year, 11 cents the second, and 12^ 
cents the third year. Later the school authorities threw the indus- 
trial course open to all who could satisfy the entrance requirements, 
no matter at what kind of work they were engaged the week out of 
school. Most of the boys are paired in such a way that when one 
of the pair is at school the other takes his place at the factory. But 
in some cases employers are willing to get along without a substitute 
for the week spent by the boy in school. 

All the boys work in the summer. The school year is 20 weeks 
in length. Twenty students are enrolled in the first year of the 
course, 20 in the second, and 20 in the third. The instructor in 
charge of the course spends from 5 to 7 hours a week visiting the 
students in the factories. Two of the students are sons of union 
men. 

The schoolwork is applied as closely as possible to industrial 
needs. It includes English, current events and industrial history, 
arithmetic, simple algebra, geometry and trigonometry, mechanism 
of machines, physics and chemistry, commercial geography, civics 
and American history, business methods, drawing. In science and 
mathematics applications are taught rather than theory. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 209 

11. Separate High Schools for Technical and Manual 

Training Courses 

In the matter of separate buildings for technical and manual 
training courses in high school, present practice shows many varia- 
tions. In the seven cities mentioned below there seems to be on the 
whole a tendency to make a distinction between manual training 
courses and technical courses, and to offer the former in all high 
schools, but to give the latter in separate schools only. This ten- 
dency seems to be based on the view that technical courses, since 
they aim definitely at vocational training and require for the shop- 
work a larger portion of the school time than manual training 
courses, should receive the benefit of a school atmosphere given over 
largely and definitely to vocational training, and that such an 
atmosphere can be best developed in a separate technical school. 
Manual training, on the other hand, since it aims at the general 
education of the individual through the hand, regardless of his voca- 
tional future, should be given in all schools. 

1. In St. Louis manual training is offered in all high schools. 
No distinctly technical courses are offered. 

2. In Chicago a four-year course in manual or technical train- 
ing is given in each of three high schools. In each of the remaining 
high schools it is planned to offer two years of manual training, 
although this plan has not yet been completely carried out. Two- 
year vocational courses are offered in all high schools for the first 
time in 1910-11. 

3. In Cleveland all manual training of high-school grade is 
being concentrated in one or two buildings, where it is being inten- 
sified, one-half to two-thirds of the school time being allotted to 
shop and drawing. The manual training formerly given in other 
high schools is being discontinued, on the ground that sufficient time 
can not be given to it in academic high schools to produce satis- 
factory results. ^^ 

4. In Boston only one high school offers four years of manual 
training, and this school is shortly to be transformed into a dis- 
tinctly technical high school for boys, oft'ering preparation for indus- 
trial pursuits but no preparation for college or higher technical insti- 
tutions. Two high schools offer afternoon industrial courses. Five 

^ Report of the Educational Commission, 1906. 

15 



210 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

outlying high schools offer not more than two years of manual train- 
ing. Six academic high schools centrally located offer no manual 
training. The High School of Practical Arts for Girls is a dis- 
tinctly technical school, in a separate building, and offers no prepa- 
ration for college. The experience of Boston shows, according to 
a statement of the superintendent, that courses in domestic science 
and in household arts do not attract nearly so many students when 
given in the regular academic high school as when given in a separate 
high school as at present. 

5. In Newton, Massachusetts, there are two high schools, one a 
technical high school for boys and girls, the other an academic high 
school without manual training equipment, and located near the 
technical high school. Students in the academic high school may 
go to the technical high school for optional courses in manual train- 
ing. 

6. In New York city (all boroughs) all but three of the nine- 
teen high schools offer the general high-school course, four years 
in duration, with electives in commercial subjects in the third and 
fourth years. Of the three high schools not offering the general 
course, two are exclusively commercial high schools, for boys only, 
and one is devoted solely to manual training for boys. In the latter 
school a four-year industrial course is offered, in which a large part 
of the time is given to shopwork. Five high schools offer only the 
general course. Eleven high schools offer, in addition to the general 
course, a three-year commercial course, a three-year technical course 
for girls, or a four-year manual training course for boys. 

7. Cincinnati affords a very interesting organization of technical, 
manual training and academic courses all in the same high-school 
building. There are three high schools in the city. Two of these 
oft'er for the first time in 1910-11 eight courses of study divided 
into two groups : 

(1) Academic Courses, including the usual General, Classical, 
Domestic Science and Manual Training Courses. 

(2) Technical Courses, including the Commercial, Boys' Indus- 
trial, Girls' Art and Girls' Industrial Courses. 

The third high school offers at present only the General and 
Classical Courses. 

The first group of courses provides general culture and prepares 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 211 

for colleges and professional schools. The second group leads 
directly to vocations. 

The Cincinnati school authorities recognize the objections which 
can be raised to the plan of having technical courses in the same 
building with academic courses, and under the same principal and 
teaching force. The following quotation from the Eightieth Annual 
Report of the Superintendent shows that definite steps are being 
taken in the organization of the high schools to overcome these 
objections : 

1. The principal, the administrative officer of the whole school, and in 
authority over the heads of departments. 

2. Heads of departments. The Boys' Technical or Industrial Course, 
the Girls' Domestic Arts Course, and the Commercial Course should each 
have a head. To the head of a department each student in that department 
would report. He would be the adviser also of the teachers of the special 
staff (in conjunction with the principal) and would be supervisor of all 
work of the group of students in his department. It would be the duty of 
the head of the department, say of the Commercial Course, to keep in touch 
with business interests in the cit}^ to keep the course of study abreast of the 
needs of business houses, and to suggest suitable positions for his students. 

3. The staff of teachers and instructors. These should be organized 
in departments under the above heads, and when appointed it should be with 
reference to their fitness for the special department. If a teacher conducts 
classes in two departments, the work done in each department should be 
under supervision of its respective head. Teachers not in sympathy with 
a commercial or industrial course should not be permitted to teach students 
in such a course in any subject. This is highly important if the courses are 
to preserve their integrity and are not to be made a mere blind or decoy to 
lure students into other courses. If we offer a commercial course, the course 
must be what it pretends to be, and it must be taught by expert teachers 
who believe in it, and there must be no proselyting into other courses. 



212 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER VIII 

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND COURSES IN OTHER 

CITIES (Concluded) 

SHOP METHODS. ACADEMIC COURSES AND DRAWING. WAGES 

OF FORMER STUDENTS 



The preceding chapter attempts, among other things, to show the 
degree in which the particular schools and courses described may- 
be regarded as '' industrial " in character, as distinguished from 
schools of the conventional manual training type, (a) by giving 
lists of shop products, (b) by stating the use to which the products 
were put, (c) by giving the portion of school time which is devoted 
to the shop and to the academic work. 

In this chapter the industrial character of some of these schools 
is still further shown by giving under I, below, a description of 
methods used in shopwork, and under II, some outlines of academic 
courses closely related to shop and industrial needs, together with 
a list of reference and text-books. Under III statistics are given 
on the wages of students from eight trade and technical schools 
compared with the wages of persons trained only in the industries. 

I. Industrial Methods in Shopwork 

In a number of the intermediate industrial schools, special effort 
is made to introduce " industrial " methods and standards in the 
shopwork. Such methods include (a) the making of jigs to facil- 
itate manufacture and to secure uniformity in the product, (b) 
division of labor to increase the skill and speed of the individual 
and the efficiency of the working force, (c) the appointing of stu- 
dents as group foremen and room foremen to develop leadership 
and organizing ability, (d) the use of cost and time cards and the 
assigning of a wage-rate for students' work, and (e) the use of a 
checking system to fix responsibility for poor work. Especially 
good examples of the use of some or all of the above shop methods 
may be seen in the Factory School, Rochester, New York, in the 
Vocational School, Albany, New York, in the Trades School, Colum- 
bus, Ohio, in the Industrial School, New Bedford, Massachusetts, 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 213 

and in the optional industrial courses in grammar schools, Boston, 
Massachusetts. Detailed descriptions are here given of the methods 
used in the Boston and New Bedford schools. 

1. In the Boston grammar school industrial courses,^ pasteboard 
boxes were made. 

The method employed was as follows : First a sample box was studied 
and careful note was taken of its use, of the material of which it was made, 
and of the details of its construction. Especial attention was called to the 
dimensions and to the need of obtaining accurate results, in order that all 
boxes might serve the purpose for which they were intended and also be alike. 

Each boy then made one entire box, drawing, cutting, scoring, gluing, 
staying corners, pasting. 

Next, by a brief talk, and with necessary demonstration, an explanation 
was given of the greater economy of employing " industrial methods." 

Jigs were made for facilitating some of the operations and for securing 
greater uniformity in the product. The class was organized into different 
groups of from two to six boys each, each group performing one of the 
several operations involved in the making of the box or the cover. There 
were the box cutters, cover cutters, stayers, pasters, fitters and gluers. There 
were those who assembled, inspected, packed and counted the boxes, and 
there were the assistant teachers — foremen in embryo. 

Of course, this was not all done in one lesson. By the time 750 of these 
boxes were made and packed, ready for the supply team, the boys had 
gained at least a glimmer of light on five points of superiority of this, the 
industrial method, over the method first employed : First, that there was 
greater economy in the use of material. Second, that much time was saved, 
since it was not necessary to lay aside one tool and hunt for another at the 
completion of a single operation. Third, that the skill increased very rapidly 
by performing the same operation many times. Fourth, that a standard of 
accomplishment in a given time was established, below which no self-respect- 
ing boy wished to fall. Fifth, that a "good" box could not be produced if 
any of the group of boys did " bad " work. 

In passing, I must note and answer one objection which some advocates 
of " educational " manual training will make, namely, that the frequent 
repetition of the same movement is not educational, since it becomes prac- 
tically automatic — a matter of the spinal cord. Be that as it may, the boys 
show an ever-increasing interest and delight in their work as they become 
more and more skillful, for there is a keen joy in mere accomplishment 
which is by no means a matter of the spinal cord, but of an intelligence 
which is much higher. It should also be noted in this connection that from 
time to time the groups were changed, so that in the end all the boys had 
performed several, if not all, of the different operations. 

^ The description here given is taken from an article prepared by Frank M. Leavitt, 
formerly Assistant Supervisor of Manual Training, and quoted in the report of the Super- 
intendent of Schools, 1908. 



214 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

The second project was a box smaller and more finely constructed than 
the first. Sixteen hundred of these were made. 

In speaking of the methods used in making the later projects, it is only- 
necessary to note two points in which they differed from those first employed : 
First, in the earlier project the groups were chosen with reference to the 
ability of individual boys and the difficulty of the several operations. In 
the latter the groups were formed by taking the boys in order, just as they 
came, and a " foreman " was appointed for each group. 

Second, a system of " check " was introduced, which made it possible 
to trace poor work to its author — thus fixing responsibility. After the com- 
pletion of the second project some calculations were made to ascertain the 
increase of efficiency, and it was found to be about 400 per cent. 

It is rather early to speak with certainty about the interest with which 
the boys will follow this work, but the indications are all extremely favorable. 
The boys do not seem to object to giving their work to the city, but rather 
appear to be pleased that they can contribute something to its support, and 
that, in these days, is of no small consequence. Interest seems to be awak- 
ened and held by the mere productive activity — by the industrial processes 
themselves, and it has not been necessary, thus far, to bring in the motive 
of ownership, which is prominent in the regular manual-training work. The 
boys were interested when the supply team called to transfer their boxes to 
the supply rooms. Some rivalry has been noted between different groups, 
and some boys have asked to be allowed to work at home. 

2. At the New Bedford, Massachusetts, Industrial SchooP the 
shopwork aims to produce, among other things, what may be called 
*' a constructive state of mind, by putting the pupil repeatedly 
through the whole process of planning, expressing and constructing 
some piece of work which is to be used, and at the same time to 
develop proper shop habits." The job-shop is taken as the general 
model for the shopwork, the academic work being largely determined 
by and centered about the work on a particular job. 

Orders are sent into the office from the head of any department. In 
the office each job is entered on a job card. On this card is placed the name 
and office number of the job. The shop instructor takes this card to his 
office and enters on it the name and number of the boy to whom he assigns 
the job. The boy then rings in his time on the time clock. Since the card 
shows from what department the order came, he goes to that instructor to 
get further details, which are intentionally given orally. He then goes to 
the drawing room, presents his job card and is given a check, a piece of 
drawing paper. On this he draws the work, and then takes the drawing to 
the man who gave the order. If all right, from the standpoint of the man 
who wants the article, he takes his drawing to the shop instructor to be 

2 The description here given is taken from an article by the director, Charles R. 
Allen, published in Bulletin No. 10, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 215 

O. K'd. Then he gets out specifications and stock and cost figures, or any 
other calculations which may be needed, on the same sheet as the drawing. 
When these are passed by the academic teacher, he reports at the shop, 
entering on his sheet time spent in this work as shown by his card. 

He then makes the article or does the work, gets it passed by the 
instructor and returns his drawing sheet to the drawing supply room. There 
he writes a report on the work. When this is accepted by the English 
teacher the job is completed, and he rings out on the job card, turning that 
and the article (if possible) into the shop office. 

Thus in this process the boy has planned and carried out a definite piece 
of work, and has incidentally got his English, mathematics and seme ideas 
of economy, has been required to carry through a number of steps in proper 
order and has gone through the whole process of production. 

11. Drawing and Academic Courses Related to Industrial 

Needs 

Practically all the industrial schools visited by the committee's 
representative are endeavoring to organize the academic instruction 
around industrial needs. Few of the schools, however, have gone 
far enough in these efforts to have definite and complete outlines 
of such work. This is due, in part, to the lack of appropriate text 
and reference books, and to a lack of time in the early stages of 
these experimental schools when many things need to be done. 

Twelve schools were found which have developed '' industrial- 
ized " courses in drawing and academic subjects to such an extent 
that outlines or descriptions can be here given which niay be sug- 
gestive to others interested in this matter. These courses are 
described below, classified with respect to subject matter. In addi- 
tion, courses in industrial history and civics in the continuation 
schools of Munich, Germany, are outlined under '' history." A list 
of reference and text-books, obtained from instructors in industrial 
schools in this country, is given at the end of the section. 

Mathematics 

The following books and courses in mathematics have been 
brought out in close connection with trade and technical schools in 
order to supply the demand for mathematical subject matter closely 
related to shop needs. 

1. Shop Mathematics,^ by E. E. Holton, is based on the author's 
twelve years' experience as draftsman and shop foreman and on 

^ Published by The Taylor-Holden Co., Springfield, Massachusetts. 



216 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

twelve years' experience in teaching in trade and technical schools. 
The chief feature of the book is the 38 lists of some 600 problems 
related to machine-shop practice. No attempt is made to explain 
mathematical theory or principles. Rules and formulas are given 
under each subject, with some explanation of their meaning and use. 
The book contains 211 pages, with over 62 illustrations of machines 
and apparatus, a list of 56 formulas, and a table of natural trig- 
onometric functions. It is, perhaps, best adapted for use in technical 
high schools, after two years or more of mathematics have been 
completed. 

2. A book of problems intended to supplement the usual algebra 
and plane and solid geometry of secondary schools, and the trig- 
onometry of right triangles, has been worked out in the mathe- 
matic classes of Lewis Institute, Chicago, by Herbert E. Cobb, one 
of the instructors. The book is at present, November, 1910, in 
manuscript form, and contains over 1,200 problems, from one-half 
to two-thirds of which relate to laboratory and shopwork and engi- 
neering formulas. On the mathematical side these applied problems 
require the use of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry of right tri- 
angles and a small amount of plane geometry. Considerable use is 
made of the graph in the solution of the applied problems. The 
remaining problems are of the geometry-algebra type, intended to 
interweave those subjects. Explanatory solutions of problems are 
given, and frequent explanations of the principles of science with 
some experimental work. The meaning and use of formulas are 
presented. Since the book is intended to be supplementary to the 
regular work in mathematics very little explanation is made of the 
mathematical principles involved in the problems. 

3. Shop Problems in Mathematics,* by Breckenridge, Mersereau 
and Moore, is intended to provide the mathematics needed in the 
usual four-year high-school course in manual training. It should 
be useful as a handbook in the shops or as a supplementary book 
in the mathematics classroom throughout the four years. In addi- 
tion to the shop problems, and the rules and formulas required, some 
80 pages are given to a review of calculation, and to an explanation 
of the mathematical principles involved in the use of formulas and 
in the trigonometric solution of triangles. The book contains 278 
pages, with 162 figures and illustrations of machines and apparatus. 

* Published by Ginn & Co. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 217 

4. The following course in mathematics is offered in the Cleve- 
land Technical High School. 

Secondary School Mathematics,^ Book I, by Short and Elson, 
is used in the first year. This book covers about a half-year of 
algebra and a half-year of geometry, with some arithmetic inter- 
woven. Nearly all of the ten chapters contain supplementary 
lists of applied problems related to the science work of boys and 
girls. 

Secondary School Mathematics, Book II, by Short and Elson, 
is used in the second year. This book contains the second half- 
year's work in both geometry and algebra. Supplementary lists 
of applied problems for boys, at the end of the chapters, contain 
problems on pulleys, gears, speeds, roof trusses, weights and 
forms of nuts and bolts, strength of materials, stresses on beams, 
tapers, etc. The lists of applied problems for girls are mainly 
arithmetical and are based on the cost of materials for garments, 
the preparation (cutting) of materials, the percentage composi- 
tion of foods, etc. 

The mathematics of the third year, for boys, is machine-shop 
mathematics, and is studied in the machine shop, instead of in 
the mathematics classroom. For this course Holton's Shop 
Mathematics^ is used. 

For the fourth year the customary course in advanced or col- 
lege algebra Vv^ill probably be offered. 

5. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, New York city, has 
developed a course in industrial arithmetic, published in book form 
under the authorship of Mary L. Gardner and Cleo Murtland. The 
book contains 53 pages of problems classified with reference to the 
trades taught in the school, together with problems bearing on the 
textile industries. No attempt is made in the book to explain the 
arithmetical principles involved in the problems. 

6. The Milwaukee School of Trades and the Cincinnati Con- 
tinuation School are developing courses in mathematics covering the 
mensuration, the algebra and the trigonometry needed in the trades 
taught. In the Cincinnati school considerable effort is made to give 
the student an understanding of the mathematical principles involved 
in the rules and formulas used in the shops. 

B Published by D. C. Heath & Co. 

^ See p. 215 for statement concerning this book. 



218 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

7. Hundreds of problems, closely related to shop needs, have 
been prepared for the apprentices of the New York Central Lines. "^ 
Some of the problems are general in character and are to be solved 
by all apprentices ; others are related to a particular trade and are 
to be solved by the apprentices in that trade only. 

The body of the course is arithmetic, including mensuration of 
plane and solid figures, but some attempt is made to introduce alge- 
bra, in a simple way, in connection with formulas. Problems on 
levers, gears, pulleys and strength of materials are also given. 

The course is essentially a problem course, all theory, principles 
and rules being introduced through problems needed for solution in 
the shops. Practically all problems are clothed in shop language. 

Drawing 

1. In the New York Central Apprenticeship system a course in 
drawing is provided for each trade, specially adapted to the needs 
of that trade. No preliminary geometrical exercises are used. The 
drav/ings are entirely of objects used by the apprentices in the shops, 
geometrical principles being introduced when needed. Lettering is 
taught incidentally in connection with the title on the sheet. Blue- 
print instruction sheets are used, containing general directions, as 
well as specific directions for the individual drawings. 

2. In the High School of Practical Arts for Girls, Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, drawing is closely related to the shopwork. Before a 
garment or hat is made in the shops, a design or working-drawing, 
giving full details, is made in the drawing-room, due consideration 
being given to the figure of the girl for whom the article is intended, 
and to the quality and kind of material to be used. After the article 
is completed in the shops, a final drawing is made, similar in charac- 
ter to the designs in fashion-plates and magazines. The artistic fin- 
ish of these final drawings is noteworthy. 

In domestic science the drawing is based on house-building, fur- 
nishings, decorations, etc. 

History 

1. The course in the history of boot and shoe making, outlined 
below,^ was given in Brockton, Massachusetts, to fourth-year high- 

"^ A full description of this system of apprenticeship, showing methods of instruction, 
may be found in the American Engineer and Railroad Journal, June, July, September, 
October, November, 1907. 

8 The outline was furnished by the instructor, Miss Blanche Evans Hazard. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 219 

school students, three periods a week for the regular school year. 
All students in the course had already taken one year in ancient 
history, one year in mediaeval, and one in English history, and were 
taking American history, two periods a week, along with the indus- 
trial history. 

Footwear — of primitive people in all times and places. Sandals and mocca- 
sins. Materials and form. 

Footwear — of civilized nations in ancient times. Orientals, tjlreeks and 
Romans. 

Medieval Industries 

Medieval manorial life. Manors as self-sufficing communities com- 
pared with New England farms in the seventeenth century. Shoes made 
in the houses or from leather tanned on the manor. A time of household 
economy. 

Rise of towns. Markets and merchant guilds for trade. Masters, 
apprentices and journeymen for handicrafts. Craft guilds and their 
organization. 

Thomas the Tanner, and Samuel the Saddler, as topics for original 
stories. Illustrations of medieval footwear. 

Period of town economy. 

Modern Industrial Life in the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century 

Influence of foreign intercourse. 

Influence of new colonial possessions of Europe as markets for home 
products. 

Mercantile theories and their effect upon English industries. Large 
amounts of capital in hands of traders without technical training, who 
ventured to secure and hold distant markets for products made at home. 
Therefore, rise of domestic system, and a time of national economy. 

Development of better means of communication, i. e., canals, roads 
and ships. 

Modern Industry in the Nineteenth Century 

Conditions in England, France, Germany and New England in 1815, 
1850 and 1900, showing the transition from the domestic to the factory 
system of production during these centuries. 

Illustrations taken from the silk and linen industries in Germany and 
Italy, the woolen industry in England and the boot and shoe industry in 
New England. 

Factory system slow to develop in European countries, except in cases 
of new industries. 

Discuss low price of labor there versus high price of machinery. 
Discuss, also, high prices versus high cost of labor. 

American-made machinery and American factory organization being 
introduced. 



220 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

History of the Boot and Shoe Industry in the United States 

Lynn, Randolph and North Bridgewater taken as typical centers. 

Shoemaking in New England farmhouses by fathers and sons, or by 
traveling cobblers. Particularly in Massachusetts. 

Apprentices in the cities and the country until 1840, 

Work of John Dagyr, in Lynn, and Josiah Field, in Randolph. " Bag- 
men " for merchants. 

Vats and tanneries in the New England towns for local tanning. 

" Ten-footers " — capitalist merchants who organized the " putting- 
out " or domestic system. 

Development of the central shop. 

Conditions of market for boots and shoes manufactured in New Eng- 
land in the nineteenth century. 

Farming communities added shoemaking to their winter's and sum- 
mer's work. Army contracts made a demand for extra production in 
1812, 1848 and 1861. Australia and California provided new and rela- 
tively large demands for brogans and for boots when mines were opened 
in the " forties." 

Discussion of the means of transportation in 1830, 1850, 1865. 

Conditions of finances in 1800, 1837, 1857 and 1873. Effects of these 
financial conditions and means of communication upon the manufacture 
of goods. 

Study of account bocks of manufacturers and grocers from 1800 to 
the present time. 

Social and industrial history of North Bridgewater from 1656 to 1910. 

The Boot and Shoe Industry Passes Into World Period 

American-made shoes compete with foreign shoes. Hides used in 
America come from various parts of the world. 

Spread of American-made machinery. History of the United Shoe 
Machinery Company. 

The making and winning of foreign markets by American boot and 
shoe firms. Our consular service. 

Question of " free hides " and " protected " shoes. 

Twentieth-century Organisation of Shoe Factories 

Class visits in local factories. 

Study of parts and processes. Study of kinds of mental and technical 
skill necessary for each process or machine. The work of the office in 
making up tags, and of the shipping room in marketing the boots. 
Advertising departments and devices. 

Study of allied industries in Brockton. 

Modern Problems Affecting the Boot and Shoe Manufacture 

Trades unions, trusts and combinations, factory legislation in Massa- 
chusetts, factory " betterment " or " social " schemes, tariff, industrial 
education given by the State. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 221 

Text and reference books used 

Thurston : Economic and Industrial History, Part II. 

Cunningham : Outlines of English Industrial History. 

Cheney: Industrial and Social History of England. 

Ashley: Middle Ages. 

Otis Mason: Primitive Travel and Transportation, Origin of Inven- 
tion, etc., published by the Smithsonian Institution. 

Gulick : Life of the Ancient Greeks. 

Preston and Dodge : Private Life of the Romans. 

Wilkinson : Egypt. 

Bogart : Economic History of the United States. 

Coman : Industrial History of the United States. 

Day : History of Commerce. 

Johnston: Ocean and Inland Waterways, and Railroad Transpor- 
tation. 

Weeden : Social and Economic History of New England. 

Dewey : History of Finance. 

Unwin: Industrial Organization. 

Schloss : Methods of Industrial Remuneration. 

Bucher: Industrial Evolution. 

2. The following outline of talks on printing, supplemented by 
prescribed reading in books of reference, was given in the Pre- 
apprentice School of Printing, Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 
1909-10.^ 

1. Early methods of keeping records. 
Picture-writing on stone and skins. 

Invention of alphabet and writing; scribes, books, parchment, wax 

tablets, papyrus rolls. 
Illuminated manuscripts. 
Invention of printing by Gutenberg, 
Facsimiles of early printing. 

2. Developing and spread of printing over Europe to England after 

invention of movable type. 
Improvement in typemaking. 
Improvement in press ; Franklin. 
Modern methods ; cylinder press ; linotype. 

3. In the cooperative course of the Lewis Institute, Chicago, 
one day in the week is given to lectures on industrial history- on the 
topics outlined below. ^° On the following day students are asked to 
write in class on the subject of the lecture. 

^ Taken from Superintendent's Report, 1910. 
^° The outline was furnished by the instructor. 



222 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Topics in Industrial History 
First Quarter (Feudalism) 

1. The Manor. 

2. The Guilds. 

3. The Black Death. The Peasants' Rebellion. 

4. Enclosures. 

5. Break-up of the Guilds. Domestic System. 

6. Paternalism. State regulation of industry. 

Second Quarter (The Industrial Revolution) 

1. Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, etc. 

2. Watt and the Steam Engine. 

3. The Factory System. 

4. Laisser-faire. Chartism. Corn-laws. 

5. Factory Legislation. 

6. Rise of Trade Unions. 

Chief reference : Cheyney : Industrial and Social History of England. 

Third Quarter (American History) 

1. Industry in the Colonies. 

2. The American Revolution. 

3. Development of Agriculture. 

4. Slavery. The Cotton Industry. 

5. The Civil War. 

6. Immigration. 

Fourth Quarter (Present Aspects in United States) 

1. Historical Sketch of the American Labor Movement. 

2. Ha3'market and Homestead Riots (Typical Conflicts). 

3. Child Labor. 

4. Labor Legislation. 

5. Present Organization of Labor. 

6. The American Federation of Labor. 

Principal references 

Coman : Industrial History of the United States. 

Commons : Races and Immigrants in America. 

Adams and Sumner: Labor Problems. 

Mitchell : Organized Labor. 

Spargo : Bitter Cry of the Children. 

United States Industrial Commission, Vol. 17. 

4. Industrial history and civics in the Continuation Schools of 
Munich, Germany. ^^ 

" The outlines are taken from bulletins published by the Massachusetts Commission on 
Industrial Education, Boston. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 223 

For mechanicians' apprentices 

Industrialism : History of manual work in general ; development of the 
trade of mechanician in particular; individual important mechanical con- 
trivances of ancient times and the Middle Ages (building of the pyramids, 
means of transportation, conducting of sieges, etc.) ; the most important of 
the ancient masters of mechanics (Chersiphron, Metagenes, Ktesibios, Archi- 
medes) ; the development of mxcchanics with the advancement in the knowl- 
edge of physical laws (Galilei, Newton, Franklin) ; the development of 
mechanics during the last century (Watt, Stephenson, Fulton) ; the most 
important persons in the field of electrotechnics (Volta, Galvani, Oersted, 
Schweigger, Ohm, Faraday, Gramme, Ruhmkorff, Siemens, Bell, Edison, 
Schuckert) ; the chief fields of practical mechanics in our own times, their 
gradual dividing up into special departments ; the protection of designs ; allied 
industries ; the most important features of the industry ; examinations for 
journeymen and master workmen. 

Citizenship: The communal organization; problems of the community; 
the handworker as a member of the community ; his rights and duties ; titu- 
lar officials in the community; problems of states union; the manual worker 
as a citizen of the state ; his rights and duties ; titular officials of the state. 
The state constitution of Bavaria; the Bavarian government. The constitu- 
tion of the German empire ; its problems. Social legislation. Commerce 
and traffic in the nineteenth century, and their significance for the interests 
and welfare of the citizen. Value of the German consulates in foreign 
countries. 

The citizen of the state in public life : Human society — the social and 
economic differences in it; their origin, necessity and present development. 
General social and general economic arrangements (lawmaking, maintenance 
of rights, security, culture and well-being). The participation of the citizen 
of the state in the advancement of the general interest of life. The advantage 
of living under states union. The economic and cultural position of Ger- 
many in the world. Supplementary matter from industrial laws, especially 
legal rules regarding machinery and the running of factories ; directions for 
the prevention of accidents. 

For jewelers' and gold and silver workers' apprentices 

Industrialism : History of handwork in general ; the development of the 
gold and silver smith industry in particular ; the accomplishments of the 
ancient eastern peoples in this field, and their progress in the art up to the 
present time, especially that of the East Indians, Japanese and Chinese ; 
the metalwork and ornaments of the ancient Romans ; the development of 
the industry among the people of the north, and especially in the develop- 
ment of the ecclesiastical art work of the Middle Ages (enamel and filigree 
work). The influence of Italy in the Renaissance under Cellini. The Ger- 
man masters of that time (Jamnitzer, Eisenhoit and others). The importance 
of France in this field since the eighteenth century. The present condition 
of the industry, and the more recent advances (Tiffany, Lalique). Important 
places of manufacture of the past and present. Related industries. The 



•. »r' 



224 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

present-day division of the work — the most important, from the industrial 
point of view. Journeyman's and master's examination. (As being closely 
connected with the industrial instruction, the pupil is introduced to the chief 
features of the characteristic forms of the productions of his industry.) 

Geography-history'^^ 

1. In the Cleveland Elementary Industrial School^^ 

I. Iron and Steel Industry 
The age of steel 

1. Iron ore ; its value. 

2. Distribution of ore in Lake Superior region. 

3. Ease in mining with labor-saving devices ; speed of steam shovel. 

4. Transportation of ore from mines to boat; speed in loading an 

8,000-ton ore boat; unloading. 

5. Blast furnace. Description. Contents of furnace. 

6. Connellsville coke. One hundred and forty-mile journey to 

Cleveland. 

7. Making of pig iron. 

8. Making of wrought iron ; its uses. 

9. Steel : Bessemer converter. 

10. Steel has revolutionized farming, war, transportation. Influence 

on railroads, bridges, buildings. 

11. Location of iron and steel centers. 

II. Lumbering 
Wood 

1. Structure : Pith ; wood ; bark. 

(a) Pith : Center, soft, valueless. 

(b) Wood : Sapwood, heartwood, value of each. 

(c) Grain : Edges of annual rings. Woods of beautiful 

grains — specimens. Value of grain in beauty and 
durability. 

2. Value of forests : (a) Construction, (b) Buildings; furniture. 

(c) Pavements, fences, (d) Fuel; pitch; tar; turpentine, 
(e) Paper, hemlock bark, maple sugar, nuts, etc. 

3. Lumbering: (a) The logging camp; time of going into woods; 

why? (b) Building of camp; life, (c) Control of streams. 

(d) Cutting, brushing, felling, branding, (e) Log-skidding; 
the ice road, (f) Banking ground and edge of river bank. 

^2 An excellent outline of a course in commercial and industrial geography for seventh 
and eighth grades may be fovmd on pages 236 to 250 of the Syllabus for Elementary 
Schools, New York State Education Department, Albany, New York. 

" The outline was furnished by the instructor, Miss E. Freedlander. Lantern-slides, 
obtained from the Keystone View Co., Meadville, Pa., are used in the course. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 225 

4. Log-driving: (a) Time of year and conditions, (b) Hardship 
of rivermen's lives and dangers, (d) Control of stream, 
dams and log chutes. (d) A log jam and its dangers, 
(e) Sorting and rafting — the logs at the "boom." (f) Raft- 
ing logs to the sawmill. 

Manufacture 

(a) Making logs into lumber. Sawmill; location and kind of 

power. 

(b) Location of boom for holding logs : Saw-room and its machin- 

ery; saw carriage; kinds of saws — circular, band, gang; 
dry kiln ; planing mill. 

(c) The sawing operation: Carrying logs into mill from boom. 

Sawyers and saw carriage which holds log and carries it 
against rapidly moving saw. Drying and dressing. Sawdust 
and use. Piling in great stacks on docks or in yards. 

Location of Forest Regions 

1. Pineries : (a) Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, (b) Northern 

Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan. (c) 
Western Washington, western Oregon, western California 
(especially redwoods), specimens. 

2. Hardwoods: (a) Ohio valley; locate by States; conditions at 

present in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, (b) States producing 
most of the hardwoods to-day; our outlook in this field, 
(c) Great value; industries dependent on it. 

3. Yellow pines and cypress 

(a) Yellow pines : Value and uses of wood. Commercial 

use of sap. Ports of export — Charleston, Savannah. 

(b) Cypress : Method of lumbering in swamps ; value ; 

where wood is in contact with water. States produc- 
ing : Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Vir- 
ginia, North and South Carolina. 

Marketing of Lumber 

1. Lake boats — Duluth to Qeveland; trace journey. 

2. Minneapolis — in heart of region. Center of raw material. 

Easy, cheap transportation. Waterfalls cheap power. Dis- 
tributing center. 

3. Lake ports engaged in shipping lumber. 

Mapwork : Western ports; kinds of lumber; markets. 

Forest reserves: Conservation of forests. Object of forest reserves. 
Work of government. 
16 



226 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

III. Agriculture 

Wheat (Correlate with breadmaking) 

1. Widespread use in ancient and modern times — staff of life. 

2. Varieties of wheat, and States raising it, and use : Winter 

wheat, spring wheat, durum. 

3. Preparation of soil : Plowing — steam plow, sulky plow, gang 

plow; harrowing, planting — pictures of machinery. 

4. Harvesting : Time and condition of grain. Old implements : 

Cradle, reap hook. To-day : Self-binder, steam header and 
thresher, 

5. Threshing. Flail, modern machine. Life on farm during thresh- 

ing season.. 

6. Marketing grain 

1. Hauling to grain elevators. 

2. Grain-collecting cities of West and immense elevators. 

3. Movement of wheat by rail : Northern Pacific, Great 

Northern, Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound. 

4. Cities engaged in handling of wheat : Minneapolis as a 

center, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, San Francisco, 
Seattle, Tacoma. 

7. Manufacture 

Flour : Old methods of grinding, present patent roller process. 
A great flour mill — process explained with specimens. 
Flour production — cities. 

IV, History 

1, History of Cleveland, 

2, Civics — the government of Cleveland in detail, 

(a) Charter. 

(b) Council and mayor, with respective duties. 

(c) The departments. 

1. Public service, with its subdivisions and work of 

each. 

2. Public safety, 

3, In study of industries, historical background introduced, for 

instance : 

1, In commerce of Great Lakes, the history of Great Lakes, 

beginning with French explorations, 

2, In study of railroads — the history of the Union and Cen- 

tral Pacific R. R., with the difficulties of the under- 
taking. 

3, In lumbering, in the hardwood forests, Daniel Boone and 

the early pioneers in Ohio Valley, 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 227 

Science 

1. Industrial chemistry in the high school at Menomonie, Wis- 



consin 



14 



The first semester is devoted to a thorough study of the basic principles 
and phenomena. In order to cover this work in an adequate manner, it has 
been necessary to reduce the subject-matter to the fundamentals, leaving out 
much that is in the average text-book. This has resulted in one decided 
improvement — the elimination of much of the non-essential, theoretical work, 
likely to be so dear to the heart of the specialist and worth so little to the 
high-school student. During the second semester two lines of study are car- 
ried on. The girls study household chemistry and the boys have industrial 
chemistry. To facilitate progress, boys and girls are put into separate sec- 
tions. In fact, they are segregated from the beginning, but this is more a 
matter of convenience than of necessity, as far as the work of the first 
semester is concerned. 

The work in household chemistry may be grouped under three heads : 
the chemistry of foods, of breadmaking, and of cleaning. The different 
classes of foods and their general reactions are studied. Whenever it is pos- 
sible, the different food principles are extracted from the foods in which they 
commonly occur. For example, in the study of proteids collagen is extracted 
from bone and converted into gelatin. Tests are made on the solubility of 
syntonin in lean meat. Studies are made on albumin from eggs, casein from 
milk, and a proteid from some vegetable. In the study of sugars, glucose is 
prepared by the hydralization of starch which the student has previously 
extracted from potatoes. An effort is made to familiarize the student with 
the common foodstuffs and with the changes, they undergo in cooking. 

The work in breadmaking includes the fermentation process, a study of 
the necessary and favorable conditions for the growth of the yeast, with 
regard to food supply, moisture and temperature. In connection with the 
study of bread raised by the non-fermentative process, baking powder and 
soda are subjects of consideration. Tests are made for ammonium, cream 
of tartar, phosphate and sulphate powders. A cream of tartar powder is 
prepared, the best proportionate amounts of soda and tartrate being deter- 
mined by experiment. The reactions of various acids, such as hydrochloric, 
lactic and tartaric, with soda, are noted ; also the reactions of acid salts. 

The chemistry of cleaning involves a study of the chemical nature of 
stains, such as grease, blood, paint, rust, ink, fruit, tea, coffee and grass 
stains, with the different cleaning reagents and their proper application. A 
kitchen cabinet of cleaning reagents is prepared and labeled as to composi- 
tion and use. 

The following experiment is chosen from the work on soapmaking: 

Dissolve 15 g. of potassium hydroxide in 120 c. c. of water and pour 
half of this into a porcelain evaporating dish of at least 500 c. c. capacity; 
add 60 c. c. of water and 50 g. of tallow. Boil this solution for three- 

" The outline here given is taken from the 'School Review, October, 1910. 



228 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

quarters of an hour, carefully replacing from time to time the water 
which has been lost by evaporation ; then add the remainder of the solu- 
tion of potassium hydroxide and boil at least an hour more. Water 
should be added as before, but the volume of the liquid may be allowed 
to decrease about one-third. Cool. What are the properties of soft 
soap? Use? Add 20 g. of salt, boil for a few minutes and allow the 
liquid to cool. The soap will rise to the top, and the glycerin, excess of 
lye and salt will remain in solution. Write chemical equation represent- 
ing reaction for formation of soap. 

The industrial chemistry for the boys covers a study of clays and brick- 
making, cements, mortars and glazes, the sources and preparation of illumi- 
nating gases, fuels, the softening of water and tests of its purity, bleaching 
and oxidizing agents, the extraction and clarification of beet sugar, making 
of matches, the denaturing and quick vinegar processes, alloys and amalgams, 
covering the preparation of brass and solder, preparation of common com- 
pounds, manufacture of pigments and inks, blowpipe analysis of some native 
minerals, electrolysis and electroplating, preparation of varnishes and stains, 
a little work in photography and some agricultural chemistry. In this course 
certain basic work is required of all. Beyond this there is some individual 
adaptation of experiments, so that each pupil does not personally conduct 
work in all of the subjects indicated. 

The following experiment is chosen from the study of fuels : 

To determine the fixed carbon in coal. Heat about 2 gm. of pulver- 
ized coal in a porcelain crucible closely covered as long as any smoke 
is given off. Weigh. To what is the loss of weight due? What remains 
in the crucible? Heat the remainder, with cover removed, in a blast 
flame until all the carbon is burned out. Weight. The second loss in 
weight represents the fixed carbon in the coal. The incombustible 
remainder is ashes. Compare your results with the following table : 

Water Volatile Matters Fixed Carbon Ash 

Lignite 18.00 20.00 50.90 10.20 

Bituminous 1.97 38.60 54.15 4.10 

Cannel Undet 37.20 61.60 1.20 

Anthracite 3.09 4.28 83.81 8.18 

Compare the retail prices of the above coals and their fixed carbon 
content. Would this hold true if we lived in a coal-mining district? 
Why? Coke has a high carbon content. Its price is relatively low. 
Why? 



2. Physics in the Technical High School, Cleveland. 



IS 



Throughout the work, both for boys and girls, the laboratory apparatus 
is of the simplest, much of it being made in the shops of the school, and the 
laboratory work aims to make clear to the student the principles of physics 

" The outline was furnished by the instructor. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 229 

rather than to be a research course for the purpose of elaborate proof of 
the laws of physics. Boys' and girls' classes are segregated. 

Boys' Physics 

First term : mechanics, 12 weeks. 

Second term : sound, 2 weeks ; light, 2 weeks ; heat, 8 weeks. 

Third term : electricity, 12 weeks. 

Mechanics 

1. Machines with special reference to the boys' shop experience. Prob- 
lems from the shops. Applied problems in transmission of power by belts, 
gears, etc., width of belts for given power transmission, finding delivered 
horse-power by Prony brake. The definitions are in engineering terms and 
the engineering units of power, work, energy, and others are given as needed, 
after the appetite for them is aroused. 

2. Parallel forces and parallelogram of forces. Much rich material for 
this part of the work has been furnished by the foreman of a telephone-line 
construction gang and by a firm building bridge and roof trusses. 

3. Dynamics, accelerated motion, falling bodies, kinetic energy, curvi- 
linear motion, treated rather briefly and in engineering units, are given in a 
comparatively simple manner. 

4. Fluid (liquid and gas) pressures, gas laws and specific gravity. 

5. Strength of materials. Stresses and strains, elasticity, elastic limit, 
etc. Tensile, transverse, compression and shearing strength are treated. 
The material and proportions to be used in furniture and machine design 
are computed so that no part will be loaded with needless weight, and yet 
every part will have a reasonable safety factor for its maximum load. 

Sound and Light 

A brief course in the fundamentals, with explanations of the most com- 
mon phenomena. 

Heat 

Special attention is given to the coefficient of expansion as applied to 
patternmaking, foundry practice and steam engineering. Indicator cards are 
made for steam engines. Gas engines are studied in correlation with the 
making of gas engines by boys in the machine shop. 

Electricity 

The course in electricity differs widely from the usual course in this sub- 
ject. Most text-books follow the historical line of development, that is, spend 
most of the time in studying frictional and static electricity, and devote little 
to the many applications of the present day. The boy usually has a magnet, 
a battery and a toy motor long before he reaches high school. This line of 
interest is followed in this course. 

1. The magnet and magnetic field as shown by iron filings. 

2. Revolving a loop of wire in the magnetic field, cutting the lines of 
force, the simple D. C. dynamo. 



230 REPORT OX VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

3. The electromagnet, same field set up by a coil, with its many appli- 
cations, three type cells, open-circuit, closed-circuit and storage. 

4. The action of two fields, the galvanometer and D. C. motor and the 
modern switchboard instruments. 

5. Modern forms of electric lamps, power consumption, light and effi- 
ciency of each. 

6. A. C. generator, induction coil and transformer. 

7. The modern three-phase alternator with its distribution system. 

8. D. C. motors, induction motors. 

9. Static electricity. X-ray, wireless, etc. 

Girls' Physics 

The girls physics begins the first term with heat instead of mechanics. 
Heating and ventilating, temperature in various methods of cooking, influence 
of heat and moisture on different textiles, refrigeration, etc., with a little 
mechanics worked in, as required, furnish a term's work. 

The second term sound and light, with a little mechanics incidentally 
introduced. The effect of different artificial lights on the color of fabrics 
and the effect of color decorations on light and dark rooms in the home are 
considered. 

In the third term the applications of electricity in the home are espe- 
cially emphasized and many of the modern electrical appliances are tried out, 
their current consumption measured and cost computed. 

Reference and text-books 

In conversations with instructors in the various schools visited 
by the committee's representative, an effort was made to find out 
what books were used by the instructor in organizing the academic 
subjects around the shop and industrial needs. The following list 
of books was obtained in this way : 

Mathematics 

1. Machine Shop Calculations, by Fred H. Calvin, published by the Hill 
Publishing Compan}-, 505 Pearl street, New York. 

2. Mechanical Engineer's Handbook, John W. Wiley & Sons, New York. 

3. Kent's Formulas in Gearing, Browne & Sharpe Jvlanufacturing Com- 
pany, Providence, Rhode Island. 

4. Elementary Algebra and Mensuration, by Carl S. Dow, American 
School of Correspondence. 

5. Castle's Workshop Mathematics, Macmillan Company, New York. 

6. Duncan's Applied Mechanics, Macmillan Company, New York. 

7. Tables for Engineers and Business Men, University Press, Knoxville, 
Tennessee. 

8. Useful Information for Business Men, Jones & Laughlin, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 231 

9. Handbook of Arithmetic and Geometry, for apprentices of the Fore 
River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. 

10. Ludlow Textile Arithmetic, C. R. Kaplinger Company, Springfield, 
Massachusetts. 

11. A number of pamphlets containing formulas for mechanics, pub- 
lished by tlie Industrial Press, 49-55 Lafayette street, New York. 

History 

1. Ccman's Industrial History of the United States, Macmillan Company, 
New York. 

2. Thurston's Economic and Industrial History for Secondary Schools, 
Scott, Foresman & Co., Chicago. 

3. Bogart's Economic History of the United States, Longmans, New 
York. 

4. Dopp's Place of Industries in Elementary Education, University of 
Chicago Press, Chicago. 

5. American Inventors and Inventions, D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

6. The Story of Iron and Steel, D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

7. A pamphlet on the early development of the silk industry, published 
by the Brainerd & Armstrong Company. 

Geography 

1. The Geography of Commerce and Industry, Educational Publishing 
Company. 

2. Day's Commercial Geography of the World. 

3. Carpenter's Geographical Reader of North America, American Book 
Company, New York. 

4. Adams' Commercial Geography, D. Appleton & Co., New York. 

5. Olin's Commercial Geography, American Book Company, New York. 

Civics 

1. Foreman's Civil Government, American Book Company, New York. 

2. Dunn's The Community and the Citizen, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 



in. Wages of Students from Trade and Technical Schools 

Figures 6 to 11, following, give the wages received by students 
from eight trade and technical schools, compared with the wages of 
persons trained only in the industries. In so far as the statistics for 
the industrial schools are not affected by selective factors such as 
family influence and economic status, the figures 6 to 11 show the 
superior value of training received in industrial schools over training 
received in the industries alone. 



232 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Fig. 6. Comparison of wages of mechanics having only shop 
training with those having trade-school training 



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Fig. 6 is taken from Person's Industrial Education, and is based 
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Link Belt Engineering Company, the Dodge Coal Storage Company, 
and similar lines of business. The records of trade-school trained 
mechanics are from about twenty-five employees who had received 
their training in the Williamson School of Trades [see page 190]. 



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Charities and Commons, October 5, 1907. 



234 



REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 



Fig. 8. Wages of 1,1^0 former students of Hebrew Technical 
School for Girls, New York City 



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Fig. 8 is drawn from statistics taken from the President's Report 
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Fig. 9 is taken from an article by Susan M. Kingsbury, in the 
Report of the Massachusetts Commission on Industrial and Tech- 
nical Education, April, 1906. The statistics of boys with technical- 
school training are of students from the California School of 
Mechanic Arts, San Francisco (a four-year trade school), and from 
the Technical High School, Springfield, Massachusetts. 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 



235 



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INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 



237 



Fig. 10 is drawn from statistics furnished by the principal, Edgar 
S. Barney. 

Forty-two per cent of the students from the Hebrew Technical 
Institute who have been out of school ten years or more are holding 
positions as foremen, superintendents, or proprietors, according to 
a statement of the principal. 



Fig. 11 

THE mm VALUE OF IMDUSTRIIL TRAiMiHG. 

SAURY PER WEEK | ] 1 Y 1 1 







AOE 



15 YEARS 20 YEARS 2S YEARS 30 YEARS 35YEARS 37YEARS 



NEWARK TECHHOL SCHOOL 



Fig. 11 is taken from the report of the New Jersey Commission 
on Industrial Education. The statistics on the Newark Technical 
School are based on returns from 226 graduates. 






238 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



PART III 

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION IN CHICAGO 
AND IN OTHER CITIES 

BASED UPON A REPORT TO THE SUB-COMMITTEE 

By 

WALTER C. CAMPBELL 

Special Investigator for the Sub-committee 



CHAPTER IX 
SUMMARY OF RESULTS. SCHOOLS IN OTHER CITIES 



Commercial education in Chicago exists obviously on account 
of the necessity for training young people for business positions. 
This necessity is recognized by business men who expect new 
employees to be able to take up work in their offices without a great 
deal of preliminary instruction; it is realized most acutely by par- 
ents who wish their children to become wage-earners in order to 
help out the family budget; and it is realized by the young people 
themselves^ because they expect a commercial education to fit them 
to succeed in business life. 

That the need of business training is great is shown by the fact 
that 31.5 per cent of the total number of students enrolled in the 
high schools of Chicago elect a commercial course,^ that 19,000 
(estimated) pupils are enrolled in the forty or more commercial 
schools,^ and that the Y. M. C. A. and parochial day and evening 
schools are providing for thousands more. The demand for com- 
mercial education has thus far been met by the high schools, by the 
private business colleges, by the Y. M. C. A. and by correspondence 
schools, by parochial business schools, by schools organized by social 
settlements or by employers, and finally by the University of Chi- 
cago and Northwestern University in their Schools of Commerce. 

Whether the training received in these schools fully meets the 
business needs of Chicago is doubtful, especially in view of the 
statement of many business men* and teachers^ of Chicago. The 

1 See Chapter XIIL * See Chapter XI. 

2 See Chapter XIL ^ See Chapter XIL 
^ See Chapter X. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 239 

general opinion of employers is that people come to them lacking 
the theoretical education and practical training which ought to fit 
them to take up routine office work immediately and to qualify them 
to compete for the so-called directive positions in business. The 
young people lack in the first place a general education broad enough 
to enable them to see all sides of a new proposition ; and in the 
second place, they lack the special training which should provide 
them with an equipment which they can apply to new propositions. 

In spite of this fact there is no insistent demand on the part of 
employers for a change in our present system of commercial edu- 
cation. They take what conies to them and do the best they can 
with it. Some business houses expect to train their employees. One 
concern in the city has been taking some pride in the fact that it 
takes in untrained office people, makes first-class clerks of them, and 
sends them to other businesses. 

The employers do admit, however, that they do not get the kind 
of help they want. They say rather unanimously that the young 
people come to them deficient in the common branches, that they 
would rather have older people and people with a general high- 
school education, at least, and that the present commercial courses 
in the high schools are very weak. 

At the present time the employers do not rely upon the high 
schools or commercial colleges for their help. If they want a 
stenographer or a bookkeeper they do not ask the high school or the 
business college to provide one. This is, undoubtedly, true for all 
the larger business houses ; the smaller business men were not 
investigated in this inquiry. The general consensus of opinion 
among business men is that business colleges are little better than 
the public schools \p the character of commercial work. The defi- 
ciencies are the same in both types of school. 

It is expected in this report to inquire only into the work of the 
public high schools, the private business colleges, and the Y. M. C. 
A., the other schools ofifering commercial courses being of a nature 
not capable of comparison with these other three types of schools. 

Commercial courses in public high schools 

In sixteen (16) of the high schools of Chicago a regular com- 
mercial course practically uniform throughout the city is offered. 
Commercial studies are offered in addition to the academic work 
and are elective. Among the subjects studied in the course are 



240 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

bookkeeping, stenography and typewriting, commercial law and com- 
mercial geography and some economics, and other associated sub- 
jects such as English composition, spelling, modern languages, 
arithmetic, etc., which are not given with a view to business practice 
but rather to meet college entrance requirements. 

There is no separate commercial department with a departmental 
head and no separate corps of teachers. Those teaching commercial 
branches complain that the work receives little encouragement from 
the public-school officers, that it is lacking in equipment, in time 
(especially for practice work) and in an atmosphere of practical 
business.^ In addition, those who elect the commercial work are 
handicapped by the excessive amount of academic work required 
because courses are planned to meet college entrance requirements. 

In spite of this 31.5 per cent of the students elect this work, and 
thousands are leaving the high schools and going to business colleges. 
It is said that over 75 per cent of the high-school students drop out 
at some time during the four-year course.^ A large number of these 
drop out because of the necessity for going to work ; a number of 
others because of the attraction of good wages, even though under 
no immediate necessity of working. Some are restless and actual 
business work is more attractive than attendance at schools ; and 
some can not keep up because of intellectual weakness, which makes 
further study in high school uninviting to them. A large number 
leave high school to finish their course in business colleges, the chief 
influence in such cases being the belief that business colleges offer 
more practical work and that greater possibilities of earning a living 
come after business-college training. 

The chief criticism against the high schools is that the work is 
not practical, is not conducted by teachers trained especially for 
business work, nor in an atmosphere which even begins to approach 
that of actual business. Under such conditions, it can not be 
expected that the work will interest the student in the first place, or, 
having interested him, that it will prove of value to him in the end. 

Private commercial schools 

The forty or more commercial colleges, on the other hand, oft'er 
apparently exactly what the students desire, a commercial education 
only. The average commercial college presents an air of business ; 

* See Chapter XII. 
' See Chapter XIII. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 241 

the equipment is quite adequate and the plan of work, especially on 
the technical side, seems at first desirable. The students are offered 
a course in business theory and practice which seems suited to fit 
them for the ends desired. 

Criticisms may, however, be made upon the work of the private 
business college. Only a few of them are really efficient, and in 
every case the course is too short. The whole attempt is to drive 
the student through in as short a time as possible, this being, of 
course, an attractive feature in the case of the student who must be 
a wage-earner immediately after he graduates ; from his point of 
view the sooner he graduates the better. The business colleges will 
take students ordinarily without regard to age, though several main- 
tain they take no one under fifteen years. They pay little attention 
to previous training and do not take into account the natural adapta- 
bility or ability on the part of the student, i. e., no attempt is made 
to inquire whether the prospective student is fitted to become a busi- 
ness man either in a directive or directed position. All is grist that 
comes to the business college mill. 

A further criticism is that business colleges feel that they are 
under the necessity of keeping their attendance, to pay dividends 
on their capital, and therefore conduct a vigorous campaign of 
solicitation which extends even to the pupils in the grammar schools. 
It is estimated that 25 per cent to 35 per cent of their gross receipts 
are paid out to solicitors.^ It is, perhaps, pertinent to inquire if 
this money could not be more profitably expended by the business 
colleges themselves in equipment or teaching staff. 

They also need public supervision. They are not open to inspec- 
tion by the public ofificers and are not regulated by the school board 
or other school authorities. 

The typical commercial course in commercial colleges includes 
bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, commercial law, penmanship, 
business correspondence, shorthand and typewriting, and what is 
called English, including reading, writing, spelling, grammar and, in 
some cases, history, geography, arithmetic, etc. The average time 
for such a course is about eight months, and the average tuition is 
about $11 per month. 

The commercial colleges themselves insist that their methods are 
the correct ones, that their course is arranged to give the maximum 
of practical work in the minimum of time, that the course is con- 

8 See Chapter X. 
17 



242 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

ducted by teachers especially trained for business work who make 
it a practice to keep in touch with the latest business methods, and 
that, therefore, their courses are much more efficient than can be 
given in the public high schools at present. It is true, however, that 
the greater number of students turned out by the commercial col- 
leges, as well as by the high schools, are inefficient, except possibly 
in a mechanical way f and they still require detailed instruction 
ill that which they are supposed to have learned in school. The 
business training of the public schools and of the commercial col- 
leges does not fit their graduates to take up business v.ork with 
the expectation of working themselves into positions of responsi- 
bility. 

Commercial courses in the Y. M. C. A. 

The continuation work in the day and evening schools of the 
Y. M. C. A. has been to some extent more successful than v.ork in 
the high schools and commercial colleges largely because of the 
nature of the students. The Y. M. C. A. classes are attended by 
boys who are anxious to advance, boys who realize their needs in 
certain lines, some of whom are already employed, some, indeed, 
being sent by employers who pay their tuition. In addition to this, 
the teachers are people actually engaged in the work they are teach- 
ing. The instructors in bookkeeping, for example, in these schools, 
are men actually working during the day in some office, or are men 
taken from some large concern and put in charge of the work in 
the Y. M. C. A. 

In general, the courses offered are about the same as those in the 
commercial colleges, i. e., bookkeeping, commercial law, business 
practice, stenography and typewriting, etc. In addition, the Y. M. 
C. A. offers special courses in advertising, real estate salesmanship, 
finance and investments, conducted by business men experienced 
in these lines of work. The time required to complete a course in 
bookkeeping or in stenography and typewriting is six to nine months. 
The Y. M. C. A. takes nobody under fifteen years of age and the 
average age of students is twenty-two years. The average enrol- 
ment in the evening schools is about 250 for the year. 

The Y. M. C. A. also makes a special effort to cooperate with 
business houses. It is true, of course, that the commercial colleges 
maintain employment bureaus and through them manage to fulfil 

» See Chapter XI. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 243 

their promises to graduates to provide them with positions, but they 
do not make the effort made by the Y. M. C. A. in putting its grad- 
uates into the best positions, nor do they try as the Y. M. C. A. 
does to use " part time " or " continuation " work. 

Summary of conditions 

The general criticism, then, on the whole situation in commercial 
education in Chicago is that the work is not designed to meet the 
special needs of Chicago. The business of Chicago is largely that 
of selling and transporting merchandise. The majority of the 
employees are perhaps in jobbing houses and railroad offices. In 
addition to these, there are large numbers of employees in manu- 
facturing industries, department stores, and mail-order houses. 
These businesses need men who are capable of taking responsibility 
very early in their business careers. Some of the large jobbing 
houses in Chicago are sending men to the various colleges in the 
country to interview graduates for the sole purpose of getting men 
who are able to work rapidly into responsible positions. 

The business courses in the schools of Chicago, public and pri- 
vate, are not designed to produce such men. Business colleges are 
not meeting the demand, for they pay no attention to such matters 
as the previous general training of their students or their natural 
ability. As one employer says, '' a great many good mechanics are 
spoiled in making very poor clerks." Pupils should be trained for 
that line of work for which they are suited. 

The work of the public schools is distinctly not work of the busi- 
ness type. It is so inadequate that for this reason students leave the 
schools, even when not obliged to from necessity to work, and even 
when not prevailed upon to leave by commercial colleges. Those 
taking the public-school course or those graduating from business 
colleges are likely to become mere machines. 

It is, perhaps, interesting to inquire to what extent business in 
Chicago adjusts itself to meet this situation. Some business men 
who say they get the kind of help they want have their business so 
systematized that one clerk does one kind of work the w^hole day 
through. Is it not, perhaps, true that this division of labor has come 
about as much from lack of well-educated office employees as from 
advanced business organization? 

The students in the commercial colleges pay about a million and 
a half dollars in tuition. Why could not this million and a half dol- 



244 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

lars of the money of citizens of Chicago be invested in commercial 
high schools or courses offered in the present high schools which 
would be designed to meet the needs of Chicago's business ? 

Remedies 

It has been apparent for some time that some other plan of edu- 
cating the young people for business should be adopted and fol- 
lowed out vigorously. 

Two schemes have been suggested. One is the establishment of 
separate departments of commercial education in the present schools 
with separate directors of comm.ercial work and a separate corps of 
teachers. The work is to be the same in all the high schools coordi- 
nated under efficient leadership and supervision over the whole city. 
The purpose is to " give business courses based on business methods 
by instructors who know business methods." While it is thought 
that the four years' course of equal grade vrith the regular aca- 
demic instruction is the very best scheme for giving the most 
thorough commercial work, it has also been suggested that a course 
of two years' duration should be offered which would meet the 
demands of those obliged to leave school early to go to work. 

The second plan is the establishment of a separate high school, 
or, perhaps, one central high school and three branch schools, one 
each for the north, south and west sides. Such a high school would 
be technical in character after the manner of Crane and Lane Tech- 
nical High Schools, and would have no direct connection with other 
high schools. It would be under the control of a separate director 
of commercial work and would, therefore, have not only the advan- 
tage of giving business atmosphere, but that of inspiring both teach- 
ers and students with a business spirit and patriotism for their 
school which would give added force and impetus to their work. 

Whichever one of these plans it is thought best, to adopt, the 
cooperation of the business man of the city is one of the most neces- 
sary factors. An advisory committee of business men could render 
service of great value to such a school by giving counsel as to the 
course of study and in visiting and inspecting the schools and giving 
criticism of the work being done. Business men and business houses 
could take students for part-time work during the school year, or 
full time during the summer vacations. 

This plan has been tried in some manual training schools and 
seems very successful. Lewis Institute cooperates with a number 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 245 

of factories in the city in a scheme whereby every student works 
during the school year, part of the time in the school and part of 
the time in the factory. Interviews with the instructors of the 
school, and with the business men and with some of the boys in 
the classes show the arrangement to be very successful. 

It would be more difficult in some cases to apply the part-time 
scheme to officework, salesmanship, etc., but there are very few 
business houses in Chicago which could not employ the students dur- 
ing the summer. It is the time of vacations for regular employees 
and the business houses actually need additional help during these 
months. Another form of cooperation could be found in affording 
opportunities for teachers and classes to visit the various offices, to 
make a thorough inspection and study the work at first hand. 

The definite aim of such commercial work would be to make it 
fit the ends of Chicago business and a definite effort should be made 
to provide courses capable of fitting men to work rapidly into 
directive positions. 

The two schemes of commercial education suggested above are 
the types in use in the high schools in other large cities in the United 
States. The separate high school of commerce is used in Boston 
and Cleveland. The commercial department for all high schools in 
the city is used in St. Louis, and will be adopted in Cincinnati in the 
coming year. 

The Boston High School of Commerce 

The Boston school has been established since 1908. It was organ- 
ized in the first place in 1907 by a committee of twenty-five business 
men whose recommendation was immediately accepted by the school 
board. This Vvas the first cooperation for commercial education 
between business men and school authorities in the United States. 

The course of instruction is twofold in character. In the first 
place, the general high-school subjects are taught to provide the 
student with general knowledge and to prepare him for college, if 
he so desires ; and in the second place these general subjects are 
taught with an eye to their value in commercial and business work 
while a special commercial training of the most thorough character 
is provided. 

Separate departments are maintained with separate heads who 
take the responsibility for their departments and share in the execu- 
tive work of the school. These departments are first, that of Busi- 



246 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

ness Technic, where classes in Bookkeeping, Phonography (stenogra- 
phy) and Typewriting are taught; second, a department of Eco- 
nomics and History covering commercial geography, business 
organization, commercial law, local industries, economic history and 
economics, civics and general political history; third, an English 
Department where general English literature and general English 
composition are taught together with special business composition 
including work in advertisement writing; fourth, a Department of 
Mathematics, where in addition to the high-school subjects of 
algebra, geometry and trigonometry drills in commercial arithmetic 
are required ; fifth, the modern Language Department, giving 
instruction in French, German and Spanish. The purpose is to 
enable a student to read, write and speak easily and correctly at least 
two of these languages. The reading includes newspapers, market 
reports, business circulars and advertisements. In composition com- 
mercial correspondence is a leading feature. Finally the Science 
Department includes physical geography, physics, elementary chem- 
istry and what is called vocational chemistry, a study of the applica- 
tion of chemistry to the special requirements of the industries of 
Boston. 

The course is ordinarily completed in four years and somewhere 
during the course the boys are expected to put in part time in actual 
business work. For this purpose, a very complete cooperation with 
the business houses of Boston has been brought about ; in the sum- 
mer of 1909, 50 per cent of the second-year class, 77 per cent of the 
third-year class, and 70 per cent of the fourth-year class were pro- 
vided with summer work by the business houses. Boys go into the 
lines which they wish to follow and to which they are recommended 
by the instructors. When they return to school in the fall, the state- 
ments of their summer employers are placed at the disposal of the 
instructors. In this way, complete record of each boy's work is kept 
and a close estimate of his capability is available at all times. This 
system of cooperation has proved very satisfactory; it provides the 
boys with experience and an opportunity for permanent employment 
and provides the business houses with the opportunity of securing 
the service of capable and ambitious young men. 

In addition to the four-year course, a fifth year of special work 
is given in which a more advanced line of commercial instruction is 
taken up. 

A valuable addition to the course has been made in the form of 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 247 

traveling scholarships provided by a number of Boston business 
men to send two boys yearly to South America, Central America, or 
the West Indies, to investigate and report upon the industries of 
these countries. A competitive examination open to members of the 
graduating class is the basis of selection. The results of the trip 
made in 1908 fully justify the expectations of the founders of the 
scholarships, and the business men's committee consider it an impor- 
tant part of the work. 

The registration in the Boston High School of Commerce has 
increased each year, and the nature of the work is such that the 
number of students returning each year is a very large percentage 
of the total enrolment. The work has been so successful and so 
satisfactory that a larger number of pupils is attracted than can 
be taken care of. 

In addition, the Chamber of Commerce has asked that other 
courses for employees, especially in salesmanship, be established in 
the school. The employers give each employee three hours per day 
for twelve weeks to follow these courses. 

The commercial work still continues in the other city high 
schools, but it should be noticed that the competition of the high 
school of commerce has served to stimulate the business courses of 
the high schools and has made them more effective. 

Mr. F. V. Thompson, the head master of the Boston High School 
of Commerce, is convinced that this work could not be carried on 
by a departmental system in the regular high schools. 

The Cleveland High School of Commerce 

The Cleveland High School of Commerce is conducted on the 
same plan as that of the Boston High School of Commerce and was 
organized in practically the same way. The school was opened in 
the fall of 1909, in response to an active demand by the business 
men of the city of Cleveland. 

An advisory committee of thirty business men not only helped 
in the preparation of the courses of study, but served as a committee 
of visitation and inspection. The course is designed to cover four 
years (i. e., twelve terms of three months each) and the work is 
divided between a number of departments. 

In the English department, reading includes study of newspapers 
and magazine articles on commercial subjects and especially the use 
of trade journals. In composition the aim is efficiency for commer- 



248 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

cial ends. In modern languages special attention is directed to 
speaking and correspondence and the attainment of a technical 
vocabulary. In mathematics considerable emphasis is laid on arith- 
metic, of course, and on practical applications of algebra and 
geometry. In the last term practical problems in the cost of rent, 
of transportation, or production and distribution, storage, shipping 
and advertising, etc., are given. The work in bookkeeping is very 
complete, including the theory and technic of bookkeeping in 
approved modern systems and giving special attention to banking, 
corporation and railroad accounting and auditing. The other depart- 
ments are those of shorthand and typewriting, penmanship, com- 
mercial geography, history of commerce and American history, 
civics and municipal government, political economy, commercial 
law, physiology and hygiene, botany, chemistry and physics with 
especial attention to their application to commercial and manufac- 
turing interests. 

Like the Boston school, the Cleveland school maintains a com- 
mercial museum, showing the different raw materials and processes 
of manufacture ; lectures by specialists actively engaged in the 
work of manufacturing and trade are given, and excursions are con- 
ducted through large manufacturing and business plants. It is 
expected that by cooperation with the business men of the city, 
arrangements for periods of actual business practice will be pro- 
vided for the students who complete the courses. 

In both Cleveland and Boston the teachers who are usually 
graduates of colleges, universities and normal schools, as well as of 
business colleges, have had large experience in teaching, and nearly 
all have had business experience, in many cases extending over a 
number of years. In addition several are authors of text-books on 
commercial subjects. 

It is too early yet to report upon the results of the first year 
of the Cleveland school, but it confidently can be predicted that the 
Cleveland experience will duplicate that of Boston in its commercial 
high school. 

Commercial courses in St. Louis high schools 

St. Louis presents the most striking example of the maintenance 
of commercial departments in the regular high schools. Separate 
commercial work has been maintained since the fall of 1909. The 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS 249 

commercial courses are optional. Students in the two-year voca- 
tional courses may elect vocational subjects in addition to those 
scheduled in the first and second years of the four-year commer- 
cial course. 

The vocational course, as it is called, continues for two years 
and at the end of that time those who complete the course are given 
a certificate. In 1909-10 one-third elected commercial work of one 
kind or another and about one-fourth elected regular vocational 
courses. This plan meets the demands of many students for a short 
business course which enables them to go early into practical work. 
Those who wish, however, can continue for the full four years in 
advanced work in subjects previously studied together with work 
in more advanced subjects. 

The curriculum includes, of course, penmanship, commercial 
arithmetic, strong courses in bookkeeping, courses in commercial law 
and geography, and courses in stenography and typewriting in which 
emphasis is laid upon the necessity of time for practice. 

There is no separate commercial department in the schools of 
St. Louis. There is no separate department head and no separate 
corps of commercial teachers, feeling the responsibility for the suc- 
cess of their departments. Coordination and correlation of work 
of the different schools is obtained through a series of committees 
composed of teachers from the different high schools. Each subject 
is in charge of the com.mittee made up of one teacher of that subject 
from each high school. In charge of all of these committees is a 
general committee. 

Since the St. Louis plan has been in use also only one year, no 
statement can be made as to the results. St. Louis has consciously 
rejected the separate commercial high-school plan and defends its 
action on the grounds that those who are trained in a general high 
school are more adaptable, and that such training avoids the " false 
distinctions of social and intellectual value that results from segre- 
gating pupils in separate school buildings according to the different 
lines of work that interest and occupy them." 

They maintain that specialized training, while it makes the best 
piece workers, produces this specialized ability at the expense of the 
general ability. Moreover, it is said that the public-school system 
should put before the youths as nearly as possible " the many things 
that engage the interests and activities of men in different walks of 
life," and that specialized high schools give no chance for observation 



250 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

or comparison in making a choice of the work to be followed in after 
life. The student beginning in commercial high schools and then 
changing his mind, finds it difficult to transfer to another high school 
and can not do it at all without considerable loss of credit. Transfer 
in a general high school from one course to another is made with a 
minimum amount of loss. The further claim is made that the gen- 
eral high school is more economical in that it is nearer to the indi- 
vidual's home. With a central high school of commerce all those 
taking commercial courses must come to one place from all parts 
of the city ; with the other plan the student can go to the one near- 
est his residence. 

Commercial courses in Cincinnati high schools 

Cincinnati offers in 1910-11 for the first time a separate commer- 
cial course. This work was undertaken after consultation with suc- 
cessful business men of Cincinnati and with their hearty cooperation. 
The Cincinnati plan follows in general the St. Louis type except 
that there is a separate director of commercial work in each high 
school who is almost wholly independent of the regular principal. 
The director outlines the course of study, supervises the instruction, 
and teachers and students report to him. Through him the coordi- 
nation of all departments is maintained and it is expected that a 
general director of commercial work will serve the same office for all 
high schools. The subjects are much the same as those in the other 
high schools. Cincinnati, however, like St. Louis, provides consid- 
erable practice time in stenography, typewriting and bookkeeping. 

Of these four schools, the Boston school is obviously the best 
organized, farthest advanced, and probably the most successful. It 
is designed to meet the special needs of Boston, and while it is in 
every sense a technical school, it still attempts to provide for those 
who wish to continue their work in colleges. In a large commercial 
city like Chicago there are good reasons for establishing a separate 
high school of commerce and offering commercial courses also in the 
general high schools. The experience of Boston with this plan 
shows that the courses in the general high schools are much improved 
by the influence of the work done by the separate school, which 
serves as an experiment station to work out a content and method 
for commercial courses. The comments of business men of Chi- 
cago, given in Chapter XI, reveal a strong demand from this source 
for the separate school. 



' SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS 251 



CHAPTER X 

SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS 

IN CHICAGO 



Solicitation of pupils and parents by agents of private commer- 
cial and business schools is widespread in Chicago. It is the opinion 
of the writer that in this practice and its results can be found to 
some extent the answers to three questions which have been fre- 
quently asked : 

Why do so few pupils enter the high schools of the city? 

Why does such a large percentage of high-school pupils drop 
out early in the course? 

W^hy are the commercial schools so severely criticized by the 
business men of the city, in whose offices the students from these 
schools find employment? 

The following evidence bears out the statement made above and 
shows that the solicitor for the business college is a serious evil in 
the community. 

Extent of this evil 

There are in Chicago forty-two or more private commercial 
schools or so-called '' business colleges," purporting to train boys and 
girls of the city who wish to prepare themselves for wage-earning 
in clerical and office positions. 

It has not been possible to obtain an authoritative statement of 
the attendance upon these schools. But few of the Chicago business 
colleges responded to the request of the United States Commissioner 
of Education, that they send school reports into his office. Direct 
requests made by the writer have received replies in only a few 
instances. It has been necessary, therefore, to estimate this attend- 
ance, making use of such figures as have been given and reported, 
and of the judgment of business college men and others who 
are familiar with these schools. This estimate is an attendance of 
at least 19,000 pupils for the last year. In the opinion of no one 



252 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

who has been consulted has this number seemed too large. There 
is reason to believe that it is an underestimate rather than an over- 
estimate. 

What the solicitors are doing 

Most of the solicitors for these schools are working on a com- 
mission basis and tend, therefore, to be more interested in securing 
the students than they are in telling the truth ; in the amount of 
business they secure than in the maturity or fitness of the pupils 
they solicit. In very many cases the pupils, even from the fifth 
grade and up, are induced to leave the public schools for the pur- 
pose of taking a course in some business college. Pupils are solicited 
who have no adaptability for commercial training. 

Many students are secured by means of what must be regarded 
as misrepresentation on the part of the solicitor. They promise the 
prospective student a job at the end of his short term of study. 
They draw attention to the fact that certain students have completed 
courses of study in a short period of time and are now holding good 
positions. Some of them who enroll have sufficient native ability or 
have received such previous training that they are enabled to com- 
plete the work in the promised time and hold a job when secured. 
The solicitor uses these examples as a bait to catch others who 
have not these qualifications. No guarantee is given that the student 
will be able to hold a position, and many take places only to lose 
them because they are incompetent. 

When the standard of those who seek clerical and office work 
is as low as that to which our business men testify, it is not difficult 
to promise some sort of a place to the graduate of a six months' 
course. This superficial training, especially when it has been added 
to an incomplete elementary schooling, does not lead to later success. 
but condemns the boy or girl to the low wages and drudgery which 
are the necessary lot of the inefficient. 

Thus the guarantee of a position after a short term of study in 
a business college becomes a source of positive injury to the children 
whom it attracts, and is at the same time ruining excellent material. 
For the same children might, after the completion of the elementary 
period with adequate business training, become efficient clerks and 
stenographers, able to gain a higher wage and take higher positions. 

That such children are being solicited and enticed from the pub- 
lic schools in all parts of our city is a fact that is affirmed by every 



' SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS 253 

public-school principal whose opinion was sought in the investigation 
of this problem. 

Statements made by high-school teachers 

A high-school teacher states : 

As the most evident reason why pupils from the grammar schools go 
to the private business schools rather than to the public high school, may 
be given to the work done among grammar-school pupils of the upper grades 
and their parents by the solicitors of the business schools. Even without 
other reasons, this would be a strong force in turning the tide. In our city 
these business schools obtain complete lists of pupils in each of the upper 
grades, as well as of pupils in the high schools (one can not say how), and 
their solicitors canvass these families thoroughly and repeatedly, setting 
forth the advantages of a course in a business school, and the loss of time in 
attending high school. This work would not be as effective as it is were 
they not able to convince parents and pupils that the business college offers 
a short cut to wage-earning. What I have said was exemplified again to-day 
in the dropping out of one of my best pupils, through the persuasion of the 
business-school solicitor, that many of the high-school studies were time 
thrown away, and clinching the argument by inducing the parent to make a 
payment down toward the tuition, so that there should be no chance for 
reconsideration. 

A high-school teacher of stenography says : 

The business colleges are indefatigable in their efforts to secure the pupils 
as low down as the fourth grade ; the names of pupils are obtained, the 
solicitor visits their homes and makes plain to the parents that it will cost 
no more to send a pupil to the paid business college a shorter time, than to 
support him in high school for a longer time, with the added benefit that 
he will at the end of a course in a business college be capable of holding 
a position, and, moreover, be placed in a position of self-support. Almost 
every pupil from a business college is " taken care of " in that way, no matter 
from what course he graduates, and irrespective of the degree of efficiency 
which he has attained. 

Testimony from pupils in the first year of high school 

No one is better able to give testimony concerning the extent and 
success of this solicitation than the boys and girls who have been 
approached by these solicitors with a view of inducing them to leave 
the public schools. In ten high schools located in various sections 
of the city, 862 pupils in the first year of the high school were asked 
to write a theme on '' Why do not more pupils enter the high schools 
of our city? " The number of reasons in these themes varies from 



254 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

two or three to a dozen. But it is an interesting fact that 565 of 
these pupils give, as a leading reason, the work of the business col- 
lege agents. Quotations from a few of the themes are given below : 

Another reason is because some parents think that a business college 
offers a child a better business education in a shorter while than high school. 
Perhaps parents wouldn't be so much against high school if it were not for 
the agents that come around and persuade many parents to let their children 
go to business college, because the agent claims that they thoroughly educate 
them and set them to work. 

The business colleges of our city are trj-ing to draw all the pupils to 
their schools by distributing advertisements all over the city, describing their 
methods of teaching and flattering their school too much. 

I think the reason that more pupils do not enter high schools is that the 
business-college agents urge most of the grammar-school graduates to go to 
business college. There were about ten agents who came to my house last 
summer who claimed that it was foolish to spend four years of your valuable 
time in high school v/hen you could learn just as much in one year in their 
college. 

The business colleges send out agents who promise everything. If they 
(the children) will just go to college for six or eight months, they promise 
to secure them a good job. The children, being very anxious to earn money, 
beg and fuss until their parents finally consent to let them enter business 
college instead of the high school. 

School pupils who have a chance to choose between high school and col- 
lege are generally encouraged to attend college by men who entice them 
before they graduate from grammar school, so they are turned from high 
school. There is no one going from house to house telling of things they 
have in high school, and people don't bother to find out. I have had this 
same experience, only that my father, being a well-educated man and holding 
a good position, knew different, and I was compelled to go to high school. 

I think one of the greatest enemies of the high schools are the agents 
that go around for business colleges. These men persuade the mothers of 
pupils to send their children to business college. They even go so far as to 
say that high schools are a waste of time and money. The mothers are made 
to have this same thought, and sign a contract before consulting any one 
else. This forces the pupils to go to business colleges. 

In the early part of June and the latter of January, when the list of 
graduates from the grammar schools is known, solicitors from business col- 
leges find out the names of the pupils and come to their house or mail a 
letter to coax the parents to allow their children to enter the business colleges. 

Other parents are influenced by the business-college agents, who tell 
them how many pupils that stay at a business college a few months learn as 
much as a high-school graduate, and at the end of a certain time this business 
college will get him a good position. The parents, believing what the agents 
say, send their children to a business college. 



SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS 255 

Testimony from pupils in the fourth year of high school 

Of 491 papers written by these pupils on the subject " Why do 
pupils drop out of high schools," 341 give as leading reasons the 
alluring advertisements of the business colleges promising a posi- 
tion, and the work of the solicitors of these schools. 

Business colleges of to-day take away a number of the pupils of the high 
school. The college convinces the parents that one who has gone through 
their school is able to procure a larger salary than one who has gone through 
the high schools. 

The business colleges of the city advertise widely, offering to give a per- 
son an excellent business education within three or six months, and to fur- 
nish him with a position at the end of that time. Many pupils, convinced by 
the agents that the education received at these colleges is as good as a full 
high-school course, leave the schools to avail themselves of the opportunity 
to be earning their own living within such a short time. 

The business college is about the first to attract the pupils' attention. 
Sometimes before they have thought of leaving high school this institution 
has obtained them. This is due to the agents for these schools. Just the 
other day one of these agents called at our house and tried to persuade me 
to drop high-school work and go to the business college. In his eager desire 
to win pupils for his school he went so far as to run down high schools and 
colleges. If a person were easily persuaded they would be won. The busi- 
ness college usually takes the children of the more unlettered class of people 
away from high school. 

The business colleges send inviting notices to as many addresses as they 
can get, telling the pupils of the wonderful advantages there are in taking 
a business course at once. Instead of spending four years at high school 
they will only have to take a few months' course in the college. This time 
is always made as short as possible in the letters, but one can never tell how 
long the course will be in reality. 

When a boy or girl first graduates from grammar school, and for months 
before, agents of the various business colleges are constantly dinning into his 
ears the advantages of a business education. All through the high-school 
course the stream of postals and advertisements continues. Allured by the 
promises of bright prospects and a position guaranteed, the pupils drop out 
and go to business college, usually to regret it later. 

What the proprietors say 

We add the opinions of the proprietors of three business colleges 
in Chicago who either do not solicit, or condemn the practice, but 
still make use of it because they feel compelled to by the competition 
of the schools who do solicit. 

One proprietor says : 

Business-college training in Chicago is in large measure a failure, because 
of soliciting children, and employing teachers v\ho lack training. Poor 



256 REPORT OK FOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 

foundation, poor teachers and text-books which produce the largest cash 
dividend are not conducive to efficient office help. I will welcome the day 
when every 3'oung man and woman who needs and wants commercial train- 
ing can get it without having to pay the fee charged by special schools. 

Another reputable proprietor says : 

The reasons why the business colleges of our city are putting out such 
an immature product and foisting it upon our business men are these : Many 
of the proprietors care more for the dollars received as tuition than the kind 
of training they are giving; because of solicitation, we are getting our pupils 
too young and immature ; the high cost of solicitation renders it impossible 
to provide high-class instructors. 

Still another says : 

We will get just as much business if we let the students alone until they 
are two or three years older. We would have more students if we would 
abolish soliciting and apply that large drain to the building up of our schools, 
making our rooms more attractive, securing more efficient instruction. These 
are the things that make any school and give it a reputable standing. I 
would abolish soliciting to-morrow if I could. 

The cost of solicitation 

We have direct testimony from four business college proprietors 
of the city that the various commercial schools expend from 25 to 
33^ per cent of their gross receipts in the solicitation of their stu- 
dents. This draft on the income of these schools affects the quality 
of the teaching force and the salaries which are paid to the teachers. 
These facts together with the work of solicitation itself in securing 
immature and unfitted pupils account to a great extent for the low 
grade of efficiency of the average pupil who completes the courses 
of study, as shown by the testimony of business men of Chicago.^ 

Cost of tuition 

It has been estimated on the basis of 19,000 pupils and the aver- 
age cost of tuition in the commercial schools, that the citizens of 
Chicago pay one million four hundred and twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars ($1,425,000) every year in tuition to private business colleges, 
concerning the character of which they know little or nothing. This 
vast sum of money is given to schools which are under the juris- 
diction of no educational authority. There are no restrictions con- 
cerning the capabilities of the teachers, the character of instruction, 

1 See Chapter XI. 



SOLICITATION BY PRIVATE COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS 257 

or schoolroom sanitation. The unwholesome conditions surrounding 
the pupils in some of these schools warrant their inspection by the 
City Board of Health. They should be compelled to install proper 
systems of ventilation, to exercise greater care in sanitation, and to 
limit the number of pupils confined to each room, that the amount 
of breathing space may be provided which is required for the health 
and physical welfare of their pupils. 



18 



258 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER XI 

ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 



As a means of getting a basis for an estimate of the output of 
commercial educational institutions, public and private, of the city, 
three hundred lists of questions bearing on different phases of the 
subject of commercial education were mailed to leading merchants, 
tradesmen, employment agents of the large department stores, rail- 
road offices and mail-order houses. 

The replies to these questions contain valuable suggestions as to 
the quality of work done by boys and girls in offices after they have 
taken comm.ercial training in business colleges and in public high 
schools. They indicate in a very emphatic way many defects of the 
present system of training, both public and private. 

Below are given the seven questions, with the replies to them, 
together with some quotations from the letters received. 

1. Do you have difficulty in obtaining efficient clerical or office 
employees? 

86.2 per cent have difficulty in obtaining efficient employees. 
11.1 per cent have no difficulty in obtaining efficient employees. 
2.7 per cent have some difficulty in obtaining efficient employees. 

2. (a) Do you find that the pupils zvho have taken commercial 
studies in our high schools are generally efficient as clerical or 
office employees? 

60 per cent reply that high-school pupils are not efficient. 
16^ per cent reply that high-school pupils are efficient. 
13^ per cent reply that high-school pupils are fairly efficient. 
10 per cent reply that they had had no experience with high- 
school commercial pupils. 

2. (b) If not, zvhat defects are most striking? 

Generally illegible penmanship. 

Deficient general education. 

Lack of thorough training in English. 

Poor penmanship, inability to figure easily and correctly. 

Know practically nothing of accounting. 



ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 259 

Not thorough in anything. 

No foundation. Lacking in the three R's. Need special training. 

Lack of thoroughness in their training in penmanship, grammar and 
arithmetic. There is also much to be desired in most instances in the matter 
of deportment. 

The most noticeable defects are bad penmanship and absolute ignorance 
of practical business methods. Apparently the high schools pay little, if any, 
attention to good penmanship, although in the matter of bookkeeping, card- 
indexing or record-work of any description, the ability to write a neat, rapid 
and legible hand is a sine qua non. It is safe to say that at least seventy-five 
per cent of the students who graduate from Chicago high schools are indif- 
ferent penmen. It is also noticeable that high-school graduates apparently 
have little training in the practical details of such office work as a junior 
clerk should be familiar with, such as filing, card-indexing, operating adding 
machines and comptometers, billing, etc. 

The very general character of the training received by pupils in commer- 
cial colleges or commercial courses in our public schools renders it difficult 
for the pupil to apply his knowledge in business, which in practically all 
lines is highly specialized. 

We have tried novices both from high school and business college, but 
have decided that our work is important enough to pay some one else for 
breaking in help. 

Several other features are the miserable penmanship, the lack of knowl- 
edge of mathematics, or rather lack of knowing how to apply what mathe- 
matics they have learned. 

With over twenty years' actual experience in hiring pupils from the 
Chicago public schools, I would say that two of the greatest defects with 
which we have to contend in this class of employees is the miserable penman- 
ship and lack of knowledge of ordinary arithmetic. 

J. (a) Do you find that the pupils ivho have taken commercial 
branches in the private commercial colleges of our city are generally 
efficient? 

80.6 per cent reply that these pupils are not efficient. 
16.1 per cent reply that these pupils are efficient. 
3.3 per cent reply that these pupils are fairly efficient. 

(h) If not, zuhat defects are most striking? 

General carelessness, lack of training, lower grade of pupils. 

Poor penmanship, inability to figure easily and correctly. 

Poor spelling and English. 

Bad penmanship, absolute ignorance of practical business methods. The 
ability to write a neat, rapid and legible hand is sine qua non. 

The whole trouble with the business colleges seems to be involved in 
their academic and dilettante system of teaching, in which apparently not 
much effort has been made to grasp either the underlying principles or the 



260 REPORT OX VOCATIONAL TRAIXIXG 

essential details of practical officework. The result is that young men come 
to our company feeling " cock sure " of their abilities after taking a commer- 
cial course, but in reality are densely ignorant of the most ordinary duties 
and routing of officework in a large corporation. 

Miserable penmanship and lack of knowledge of mathematics, or rather, 
lack of knowing how to apply what mathematics they have learned. 

The very general character and inefficiency of the training received by 
pupils in business colleges renders it difficult for them to apply their knowl- 
edge in business, which in practically all lines is highly specialized. 

Lack of intelligence. 

Poor composition and penmanship, poor training and deportment, and 
lack of knowledge of fundamental principles. 

Lack of practical training. 

You can not trust them with your correspondence because they are so 
poor in English. 

Carelessness and inattention. A graduate of a business college told me 
when he had finished the course in banking that he thought he could run a 
bank, but I soon found that he could not balance a pass-book. 

Not thorough in anything. 

Insufficient instruction. 

Not sufficient time given for preparation. Poor systems. 

Good stenographers are in demand at high salaries, but there are too few- 
good ones. 

Deficient general education. 

No speed and too mechanical. 

Lack of general intelligence and mental discipline. 

A great many good mechanics are spoiled in making very poor clerks. 

Lacking in simple English — construction and composition — and often 
deceived into taking a course too early when too young and unprepared. 

Very deficient, in my experience. Can not spell correctly. Have no idea 
of good English. 

They do not think for themselves — do things too much by rote. 

There is an appalling ignorance of the " three R's " when they leave 
school, and most commercial colleges accept them in this unprepared and 
incompetent condition as pupils. They emerge from these colleges as ignorant 
of elementary education as they went in, and with merely a cursory, and in a 
general way hazy, idea, of commercial business usages and customs. The 
average stenographer and typewriter can not produce from their badly writ- 
ten shorthand notes a correctly spelled or grammatical letter. As to deport- 
ment, good manners and polite addresses, these seem to be entirly forgotten 
and even tabooed. 

4. (a) To what extent, in your judgment, zvould a sJiort 
course of at least two years in length in the public high school givi)ig 
a specialized and intensive training in commercial branches (hook- 
keeping, stenography, English, penmanship, etc.) help meet the 
demand for efficient employees in clerical and office positions f 



ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 261 

In my opinion, such a course would be very valuable if administered 
under the supervision of experienced, broadgauge men of afifairs, who are 
thoroughly familiar with modern business practice and conditions. Under 
these conditions the sooner the boys and girls can be started on such a 
course after completing their grammar-school education, the better, as it will 
save them from wasting their time on other high-school studies of conjectural 
value. 

To a great extent, if general and widening knowledge can be secured in 
conjunction with the practical application of special knowledge. 

I am convinced that thousands of children are handicapped in their start 
in life because their schooling is neglected in English, language and composi- 
tion, including spelling, letter-writing and simple bookkeeping, and because 
the age for leaving school and considering their schooling finished is too 
young. 

The course should include penmanship, arithmetic, English (including 
spelling and business composition, the latter of a character tending to develop 
individual thought and expression and not along stereotyped forms), com- 
mercial geography, particularly that of the United States, which would 
include the topography, geology and agriculture of the various States, as well 
as their boundaries, principal cities, etc., together with a study of their water- 
ways and other means of transportation. 

Commercial work has become so specialized that, in order to obtain a 
position at a fair rate of pay, it is necessary to handle the work from the 
first day of employment. A high-school graduate very rarely can write well 
and fast enough, and is not capable of handling figures or any class of cleri- 
cal work as well as a young man who has had two years' training on that 
particular line of work. 

This course should be provided during the first two years of high-school 
work, rather than in the last two, for the reason that a much smaller number 
of pupils could take advantage of training relegated to the last half of the 
four-years' course, and the ones who drop out at the end of the first two 
years are the ones who most need and would most benefit by such an oppor- 
tunity. 

Why can not there be a four-year commercial course with the work so 
arranged that if pupils wish at the end of two years to go to work, they 
will be fitted for something, and the latter part of the course so arranged 
that it will give a somewhat broader business preparation to those who 
remain? 

Very much. Add to these efficient training in addition, subtraction and 
multiplication, with the understanding that graduates are qualified to start 
at the bottom only. If carefully and efficiently administered, this would be 
an excellent foundation for a commercial career. 

It should help, provided the work were based on actual business, and 
under the charge of experienced, not theoretical, teachers. 

4. (h) Would it be advisable to place such a course in the first 
tzvo years of the high-school curriculum^ 



262 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 

73.2 per cent think it would be advisable to place such a course 
in the first two years of the high-school curriculum. 

26.8 per cent think it would be advisable in the last two years. 
The explanation of these percentages has been given under 4 (a). 

5. (a) Would your business be materially benefited if your 
clerical and office employees had the advantage of a broader com- 
mercial training than is offered in our public high schools or private 
commercial colleges? 

98 per cent reply that a broader commercial training than is 
ofifered in the public high schools or private commercial colleges 
would be of material benefit to business. 

2 per cent reply that it would not be of material benefit to busi- 
ness. 

(b) What suggestions would you make for such training in our 
public high school? 

Probably 90 per cent, at least, of the product of our school system look 
for clerical positions first, and only go into the other lines of work when 
forced to do so by necessity. This would be very laudable if they were all 
fitted for that class of work, but as a matter of fact a great many good 
mechanics are spoiled in making very poor clerks. Employ teachers who are 
experienced men in the line of work they are teaching, and train pupils for 
that line of work for which they are suited. 

I do not believe that a commercial course in all public high schools would 
prove a benefit, but would rather suggest the placing of these branches in 
three centrally located high schools — one on the North Side, one on the 
West Side and one on the South Side — where commercial branches would 
be taught by qualified teachers, and the course specialized by teachers who 
had no other duties than those of the commercial course to perform. 

Would it not be advisable to institute separate classes for pupils intend- 
ing to enter commercial life directly from high school along the lines as sug- 
gested in your question No. 5 (c) ? 

Business courses based on business method should be given by instructors 
who knoiv business methods. 

A letter filed in the wrong place or an envelope misdirected means a loss 
in time and money. Teach carefulness to boys. Stronger commercial courses 
in high schools. Public school commercial training in Chicago is a failure 
because it lacks system, tir.ie, force and leaders. 

Broaden and intensify the course. 

Emphasis on necessity of good writing, mathematics and speed. Also 
importance of developing reasoning faculty so that the pupil knows the why, 
with the object of acquiring ability to master new situations without help. 
Make minds instead of machines. 

Establish a separate high school of commerce. 



ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 263 

Would suggest a course distinctly commercial. 

Pupils should be taught to think for themselves. Initiative needed. 
Get live, practical instructors and insist on thoroughness. 

Specialized high school of commerce. Four-year course. 

Church schools and private business colleges need supervision — need to 
be standardized. Is it not public schools that must set this standard in our 
city? I believe we need a State Educational Commission that is nonpartisan 
and undenominational, one that would be able to report on the conditions 
of the private and church educational institutions, and set a standard for 
the teachers and for the school curriculum. 

5. (c) What is your opinion as to a central high school of com- 
merce for such training, the chief idea being to train young men for 
competitive opportunities in business? 

SSyi per cent reply that it would be a good thing. 
Sys per cent reply that they are doubtful as to its utility. 
8^ per cent reply that they have no opinion. 

With efficient instructors and sound organization such a school would 
be a great benefit. 

All young men and women need it. 

The commercial interests of this great city deserve such a step. 

Good idea. Such a school should be kept open at night. It would be a 
great help to those who go to work young and fail to get the high-school 
work. 

Good. A much-needed change. 

It should also give opportunity for training young women. 

It would be one of the grandest additions to education which Chicago 
has ever experienced. Such a high school should provide a four-year course. 

There is no doubt that it would be a vast benefit to the commercial inter- 
ests of Chicago. I believe, however, that in the operation of such a school 
the pupils' preference and adaptability should be carefully considered ; that 
the school should be operated along the lines of " specialty," and that the 
pupils should be fitted for work in the particular line they are found suited 
for. 

I am not prepared to answer this. 

A central high school of commerce, if open to all grammar-school grad- 
uates, would be of great value if it could be kept free from educational fads 
and devoted to business methods. Such a school, to fully accomplish its 
purpose, should be under the control of practical men of affairs ; its teachers 
should be men of actual business experience in their several lines, and the 
school should be conducted as a large business institution, with office hours, 
rules and general methods of procedure identical with those of any large 
corporation. 

A fine thing, if advantages of high school and commercial college are 
combined, doing away with the vagueness of the one and eliminating the 
crudeness of the other. 



264 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

It would seem to me that the central high school for pupils taking a 
commercial course would be a more practical way of handling the proposition 
than in the various high schools. If so, would it not be possible to have a 
night school in connection, for the benefit of young men who are employed 
during the day time, and possible to have the day pupils attend the night 
courses during certain periods and have a general exchange of ideas among 
the two classes of pupils? 

6. Do yon think that a free employment bureau, organized for 
the benefit of the pupils of public schools, fitted for clerical and 
office work, would be an advantage to business men? 

84.4 per cent think that a free employment bureau would be an 
advantage to business men. 

9.4 per cent think that it would not be of advantage to their 
business. 

6.2 per cent say they don't know or have no opinion. 

An employment bureau of the kind you suggest would be very helpful to 
employers, and with the pupils' daily records to refer to it should be possible 
for employers to get from such a bureau young men who had proved their 
efficiency, not by having earned a diploma, but by having earned high marks 
daily for promptness, courtesy, diligent attention to studies, earnestness of 
purpose, as well as the passing of an examination. 

Yes. The pupils attaining the required degree of efficiency could be bul- 
letined at the state employment bureaus, as well as at the various commercial 
and industrial clubs, so that any of the interested members could make their 
selections from these lists. Those interested in the welfare of the proposi- 
tion could very readily tell within a short time whether the experience was 
an advantage or otherwise. 

Many business men with whom the writer conversed said that 
they would be glad to utilize a number of efficient pupils during the 
summer vacation, while their regular employees were ofif on vaca- 
tions, but that they had no means of finding such persons directly, 
or determining their standing and efficiency. The possibilities of 
using the suggestions herein set forth as a school incentive are 
worthy of careful consideration. 

/. It is manifest, that to fulfill their best purposes, the commer- 
cial departments of the high schools of Chicago should keep in con- 
stant touch with the business world and advance with the evolution 
of mercantile development. What methods can you suggest of pro- 
moting such a relation between them and the business interests of 
the city? 



ATTITUDE OF BUSINESS MEN 265 

Have practical commercial men in the directorate and as teachers — their 
tenure of office dependent on results. 

Have the pupils, under guidance of teachers, visit large offices for study 
of special systems — such visits being previously arranged for. 

A central high school of commerce devoted to the work and enjoying the 
counsel and attention of an advisory board of business men. 

Arrange to have a study made once each year by heads of departments 
in the commercial schools, of business methods of representative business 
houses in Chicago. 

A committee should be appointed by the educators of Chicago to meet 
with a committee of business men from the various branches of trade. This 
combined committee should investigate the needs and suggest a high-school 
course which will prepare young men and women to meet the demands of the 
commercial world. 

It would seem to me that it might be possible to arrange such connection 
with the best high-school students in commercial courses on the one hand, 
and commercial houses in the city on the other, as is now in existence 
between certain students in the Lewis Institute with manufacturing estab- 
lishments. These students spend part of their time in the school classes and 
part of their time in active work in the factories. In this way theory and 
practice go hand in hand, as they should. 

Have teachers acquainted with the practical needs of business institu- 
tions ; those with actual business experience which has reduced theories to 
actual working plans. 

Lectures from practical business men would help, and also if large com- 
mercial houses could be induced to employ help from the schools for short 
periods of time during the rush season, allowing the pupil to return to the 
school when the rush is over. This would give practical experience and 
would enable the pupil to also obtain a little idea of what course should be 
followed in study. 

Have representatives of high schools learn from employers of pupils 
reasons in each case for pupils failing to " make good." Then generalize 
results and correct methods in use. 

If the commercial departments of the high schools of Chicago are to be 
kept in constant touch with the business world in order to advance with the 
evolution of mercantile development, one of two things would seem to be 
necessary: (1) Either the teachers should themselves take a post-graduate 
course, or make some arrangement whereby they may familiarize themselves 
with actual business conditions in some of our large business institutions ; 
or (2) they should be replaced by people who have had such business expe- 
rience and who are thoroughly familiar with the process of evolving compe- 
tent clerical help from raw material. If the teachers in the commercial 
departments could attend a scries of lectures, to be given by prominent busi- 
ness men and experts in various commercial lines, I believe such a course 
of lectures would be of inestimable benefit in directing the attention of these 
teachers to the really important and vital qualifications that should receive 
particular emphasis in any course of commercial instruction. 



266 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER XII 

VIEWS OF TEACHERS OF COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS 
IN CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOLS 



[In 1910 two-year vocational courses in commercial subjects were 
introduced into the Chicago high schools, giving more time to prac- 
tice in accounting and stenography. In most of the schools an ade- 
quate number of machines has been provided, and in so far the 
criticisms made in this and preceding chapters have been already 
met. This report was made prior to this period.] 

Teachers of commercial subjects in the public high school com- 
plain that the work receives little or no encouragement from school 
officers, that it is lacking in equipment, in time (especially for prac- 
tice work), and in an atmosphere of practical business. Moreover, 
pupils who elect the commercial subjects are handicapped by the 
excessive amount of academic work required because courses 
are planned to meet college-entrance requirements. 

Some statements made by teachers relative to the above condi- 
tions are here given. 

Commercial education in this high school, as in the other high schools 
of Chicago, is in a very bad way. None of the classes provided for by the 
Board of Education has ever been organized except for the first year in 
bookkeeping and one year in stenography and typewriting. The request for 
classes in advanced bookkeeping and commercial law has always been denied. 
The number of pupils desiring advanced bookkeeping is large. We have 
absolutely no equipment except a limited number of typewriters. Since no 
instructor is available to supervise the work in the typewriting room, the 
result is necessarily unsatisfactory. Until commercial work receives approxi- 
mately the same consideration as other subjects, it is idle to discuss courses. 

The trouble with the high schools, with reference to commercial studies, 
is that the teachers have not the responsibility for their success. Those 
pupils who have most of their work in this line are overworked, the others 
have their attention and interests divided. I think commercial work in this 
city will be most speedily advanced by a policy toward it similar to the policy 
adopted toward manual training. We should have two or three commercial 
high schools distributed over the city. 

The enrolment in one high school shows a large decrease in the 
number of pupils taking commercial branches. In September, 190S, 



VIEWS OF TEACHERS 267 

there were enrolled in the commercial courses in this high school 
310 pupils. In September, 1909, there were enrolled 252 pupils in 
the commercial courses. The reasons for this are given by one of 
the teachers in charge. 

The drop in enrolment in our bookkeeping from 1908-9 to 1909-10 may be 
explained by the fact that in June, 1909, physiology was deducted from the 
time and credit allowed for first-year bookkeeping. It was thought to be 
more convenient to subtract this time from bookkeeping (the commercial 
subject) than from any other subject. The drop in stenography for the same 
period may be explained by the fact that sewing was offered to second-year 
pupils in September, 1909, as an elective alternating with stenography, and 
no pupil was allowed to elect both. 

We have little or no equipment ; lack suitable text-books ; should be 
freed from the domination of outside (publishing) influence ; and in order 
to invite hearty, enthusiastic, concerted effort, teachers should have a fair 
hearing upon matters devolving upon them to put into efficient operation. 
Our subjects have been looked upon as intruders within the classic precincts 
and have been given cold reception. We hail this movement upon the part 
of the business community as the dawning of a new era and the promise of 
better things in the future. 

Our second-year bookkeeping list of pupils would doubtless have been 
20 to 25 per cent larger but for difficulty arising from conflict of subjects 
on program schedules. This doubtless to some extent has affected the second- 
year stenography. Two years ago we had 40-odd applicants wanting second- 
year bookkeeping, but who could not be provided for because no text had 
then been authorized. 

The departmental system (now but a name) would do much to insure 
thorough work. There are no heads of departments in our high schools. 
Such heads of departments would take pride in their own department and 
assist materially in securing efficient assistants fitted for such work. The 
work would also be better correlated. 

A committee such as yours, or a committee consisting of men from busi- 
ness associations and men from educational associations, could propose ques- 
tions of policy which would arouse an interest and impulse that would solve 
many difficulties. 

Penmanship is taught incidentally, by taking ten minutes daily from the 
bookkeeping period, and only by those teachers who wish to teach it. 

There ought to be a separate period given daily to penmanship, a period 
of fifty minutes per day devoted to penmanship alone. The course of study 
does not at present provide for the giving of credit for work in penmanship. 
This should be provided for. 

What Chicago needs is a central commercial high school devoted chiefly 
to commercial education. Such an institution could give both the briefest 
and the most complete courses in the curriculum. Such an institution cen- 
trally located would so set the standards for commercial education that the 
other high schools of the city would be educated as to what is possible for 



268 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

the citA', and would be persuaded to include a larger portion of pureh- business 
education in their course of study. 

The attitude of some principals and of some teachers of other subjects 
is that of protest or of tolerance. They insist that no commercial subject 
shall encroach in any way upon the time allotted to other subjects, or the 
interest of other subjects. Some even maintain that pupils in commercial 
subjects neglect other subjects, or because pupils oftener become discouraged 
in other subjects that the least capable pupils elect commercial subjects. 

When a pupil who desires to learn typewriting may have but two practice 
periods (of forty minutes each) per week, how soon could one expect 
him to become an efficient operator? Yet his acquaintance with the machine, 
even under these unfavorable circumstances, the habits of close attention 
and concentration his practice inculcates, the improvement it develops in his 
formal English (spelling and punctuation especially) are all of real value to 
him. 

Observation of the commercial work in the various high schools 
of the city confirms the truth of the above statements. Although 
5,236 children elected commercial subjects in 1909-10 — 31.5 per 
cent of the total enrolment of 16,616 — the work does hot receive the 
attention required by the interests of the pupils and the needs of the 
business community. Excellent equipment is provided for manual 
training and the science departments, but little for commercial sub- 
jects. Desks suitable for bookkeeping are found in only two or three 
schools. Practically all of the high schools do not have a sufficient 
number of typewriters, and some of these machines are in poor con- 
dition and are placed on tables not suited to the work of pupils. 



REASONS FOR LEAVING SCHOOL 269 



CHAPTER XIII 

REASONS GIVEN BY PUPILS FOR LEAVING SCHOOL 



Of the 6,536 pupils who entered the Chicago high schools in 
September, 1905, only 1,470 were graduated four years later. This 
is a loss of 77.5 per cent for the four years. 

Various reasons may be assigned for such a large percentage of 
loss. Some interesting information on this question was secured, 
from 491 themes written by fourth-year pupils in ten high schools of 
the city, on the subject, " Why Do Pupils Leave the High School? " 
Some of the reasons given in these themes are presented below. 

The number of pupils who give as a reason " To go to business 
college " is 341, or 69.5 per cent. Some quotations on this point 
from the themes are as follows : 

I think that the reason people drop out of high school is that the courses 
given do not thoroughly prepare them for the business life which most of 
them enter when they leave school. They feel that they would be better 
employing their time if they took a course at some business school. At the 
end of our high-school course can we do any one thing well? I can not. 
We are taught a little of everything, but not enough of any one thing to do 
us any good, while upon leaving a business school we would feel that we 
had not wasted our time and our money. 

Then, again, pupils wish to obtain a business education, which is not 
treated thoroughly enough in the high schools. Therefore they quit to go 
to business college. 

Third, the inability to adapt the course to their after life. The question 
of whether they need just the kind of education which they are receiving 
in the high schools or whether a course of study more adapted to their 
chosen vocation would not serve them a better purpose and be more lastingly 
beneficial to them in their struggle for a living, presents itself. The business 
college seems to offer a solution, therefore many students leave yearly for 
these institutions. 

After the pupils have had some work in stenography in the high school 
they leave usually after the third year, to go to business college, so as to 
receive a good finish to the work which they expect to do in the business 
world. 

Probably one of the most obvious reasons why many students leave high 
school before graduation is that those who enter for a commercial course 
find that the high-school course is inadequate to serve them. The commercial 
course in the high school does not give the student enough practice, so that 



270 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXING 

he can go out into the world and obtain a position. The business college 
furnishes a fuller course, and the student feels he is wasting his time in the 
high school when he can do a greater amount of work in less time some- 
where else. 

Others who are too young to go to business college or to work are sent 
for a year or two to high school, where they take up as much of a commer- 
cial course as they can, and then leave for a more thorough business course. 

I think that if a more extensive business course was undertaken in high 
school there would be fewer leave-takings. 

Of the many reasons for which pupils leave high school, the principal 
one is to obtain a business education preparatory to entering the commercial 
world. Since very few commercial studies are taught in the preparatory 
schools, those desiring to pursue a business life deem it a waste of time to 
spend four years in the high school when they can enter a business or com- 
mercial college and take those studies relative to their future work. 

I know one boy who stopped high school because the course did not have 
enough studies that would be helpful to him as a business man. . . . He 
dropped out and immediately started to a business school, where the course 
pertained more to business. His parents are rather well-to-do and the young 
man could go to any school he wanted to. For instance, if he preferred to 
enter the university after high school and then enter a business college, he 
could do so. To sum up, I think that there should be more practical knowl- 
edge, that is, knowledge that could be helpful to the business man ; and then 
the number of " quitters " would decrease. 

Some pupils come to high school so that they may obtain better salaries 
when through. After having spent a year or two they find that they are not 
being fitted for a definite work, and leave to seek employment or enter a 
business college. The majority of pupils go to business college to learn 
commercial studies because it covers too long a space of time to study it in 
high school. 

]\Iany students find, during the first or second year of the course, 
that the studies they are pursuing do not prepare them to work or 
to work efficiently. It is interesting to note that 296, or 60.3 per 
cent, give as a reason why pupils drop out, that they see no con- 
nection between their high-school work and their future vocation. 
We quote here a number of statements bearing on this point : 

Some pupils, after receiving a year or two of the general education 
afforded by the high school, leave them to prepare for some specific branch 
of work, for, really, the high schools do not fit the pupils for any position. 
These people want knov/ledge that they can turn into dollars and cents. 

One of the reasons why some pupils do not finish the high-school courses 
is because they realize that the curriculum is inefficient. Since high-school 
pupils may be divided into two classes, those who intend to further their 
education by entering college and those who intend to seek employment after 
graduation, the curriculum should therefore provide for two separate courses. 



REASONS FOR LEAVING SCHOOL 271 

Most high schools, however, do provide for a course which is an excellent 
preparation for college, but the course for those who are preparing for the 
business world is deficient. 

The courses given at present are inadequate for a commercial life. At 
the end of a year a student taking the commercial course has obtained only 
a smattering of knowledge — many unrelated facts which are of no real value 
to him. He then leaves school feeling that he can gain more by practical 
experience. 

When a high school has several different set courses, the pupil is forced 
to decide in the beginning which course he wishes to take up. The fact that 
he knows that he will be fitted for a certain calling when the course is fin- 
nished furnishes an incentive to him to keep up in his work. 

It has been shown that a greater per cent of manual-training pupils grad- 
uate than of those who attend any other high school. A very probable reason 
is that a certain course is laid out in the former school which has some defi- 
nite bearing on the pupil's future work. In a carefully arranged course the 
pupil makes no mistake in choosing his subjects, and is encouraged by the 
fact that he expects to be able to do something when he is through. 

The boys leave the high schools and enter the technical institutes, the 
manual-training schools or the business college. The girls seek the business 
colleges, art schools and schools of music. By beginning these studies, which 
will enable them to earn money during the time that they would have put 
in the high schools, the boys and girls of eighteen or nineteen are able to 
start in earning their living much sooner than if they were graduated from 
a public high school and after that had to prepare themselves for v*^age- 
earning. This, then, is the reason why students leave high school in the 
middle of the course. The course is not practical or of very much use except 
to those who are going on into colleges and higher schools. There is very 
little in the ordinary high-school course which is directly beneficial to one 
preparing to enter the business world. That is why classes which as freshmen 
number from 800 to 1,000 dwindle, till at graduation they barely touch the 
100 mark. 

What of the pupil who knows that at any time he may have to relinquish 
school for a position and, considering his assets, realizes that the algebra, 
science, history and possibly Latin that he has taken as requirements for 
his diploma will, if he drops school at the end of two years, be for all prac- 
tical purposes useless in office or factory work? 

To avoid this reason for dropping out, I would suggest that courses of 
study which qualify for some particular goal be mapped out b}' those compe- 
tent to judge of what the goal requires, and that, omitting everything super- 
fluous, that course, chosen by the pupil at entrance, be adhered to by com- 
pulsion throughout. Besides, a bureau of information ought to be established 
at the schools, of which all pupils are aware, which would aim to advise and 
inform students on any points in connection with the curriculum and its 
relation to a vocation. 



272 REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAINING 



PART IV 

EDUCATIONAL TESTS GIVEN TO BOYS WHO 
HAD LEFT SCHOOL FOR WORK 

By 

IRWIN M. RISTINE 

Special Investigator for the Sub-committee 



CHAPTER XIV 

PURPOSE, METHODS AND GENERAL RESULTS 



The object of this investigation is to determine by specific tests 
the educational status of boys who leave school to go to work as 
soon as the law permits, regardless of their advancement in the 
grades.^ Information was also gathered as to the boys' reasons for 
leaving school, the reasons for taking up the kind of work they were 
doing, the kinds of work they would like to follow for a life occu- 
pation, and the state of their intelligence on general topics. 

The tests used 

The character of the tests, and the best method of securing the 
desired information, were both difficult to determine. Several 
psychological tests were proposed, which it was hoped would be 
successful in revealing accuracy and quickness. It was soon realized, 
however, that the varying conditions under which these examinations 
would have to be made would vitiate the results along that line. 
Hence the psychological tests were abandoned. In the end the fol- 
lowing plan was pursued : 

(1) A question blank not dissimilar to those used by many 
employment offices was prepared. 

(2) A minimum sixth-grade arithmetic test with special prac- 
tical features was used. 

(3) An English test was set in the form of a questionnaire, 
answers to which revealed not only the state of the boy's knowledge 
of the use of the language, but also to some extent his ambition and 

^ Statistics showing the number of children who leave school before graduation, and 
the grade reached by these children, are given in Chapter II. 



PURPOSE, METHODS AND GENERAL RESULTS 273 

his ethical conceptions. These papers were also graded for spelling 
and handwriting. 

(4) Whenever time permitted an oral quiz was conducted, each 
youth being questioned for ten minutes in order to reveal his knowl- 
edge of simple matters of United States History and of Civil Gov- 
ernment. 

The method of conducting the tests 

A definite period of time was allowed for each part of the exam- 
ination. The whole timiC was a little less than two hours, and in a 
few cases where the employer furnished the information, rather than 
allow the boys to fill out our question blank, the time was still fur- 
ther cut down. 

A regular order was followed in conducting this inquiry. The 
question blank was filled out first, the arithmetic was given next, 
then the English was given. This is mentioned because later it will 
be seen that a considerably larger number of boys were given the 
arithmetic than the English. This merely means that, in some 
instances, the time at our disposal was too short to examine the boys 
in more than one subject. 

The diificulty of securing hoys 

So far as we knew, no such experiment as this had ever been 
undertaken and some method of securing the boys, whom we desired 
should take the tests, had to be devised. In this, much time was lost. 

Boys' Clubs and Social Settlements, so far as we could learn of 
them, were investigated. But we found, for the most part, that the 
boys who were sufficiently well under control of the directors of 
these organizations so that they could be prevailed upon to do as 
they were asked in a matter of this sort, were usually under fourteen 
years of age and still in school. The older boys were suspicious of 
anything that smacked of former schooldays, and there was no way 
to coerce them. 

The next move was to go directly to employers of boys of the 
type we wanted and to ask their cooperation. There was a variety 
of reasons why most of them did not care to have anything to do 
with the undertaking. Some frankly said they were not interested. 
Others said they could not afford to have the work of their boys 
interfered with long enough for the tests to be given. Other objec- 
tions were made, no doubt sincere, but often trivial. 
19 



274 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

On four separate occasions boys were offered pay slightly in 
advance of the amount received for an equal expenditure of time in 
their regular employment to take the tests out of work hours. This 
plan was a complete failure. 

One would think that the offer of extra pay, which would not 
have to be accounted for at home along with the rest of the weekly 
wage, for an hour or two of mental labor would cause the boys to 
yield to the wishes of the investigator. The most discouraging proof 
that this was not the case was furnished at one of the larger estab- 
lishments, when a hundred boys on Friday, tempted by the offer of 
25 cents an hour, which would assure them a chance to see the Sun- 
day baseball game, promised to stay the following noon to take the 
tests before leaving for their regular Saturday afternoon holiday. 
The next day, however, on the blowing of the twelve o'clock whistle, 
all departed from the building in great haste. 

Whenever the employer made the matter optional with the boys, 
the low-grade youth, the investigation of whose intellectual life was 
our distinct purpose, refused to take the tests. 

Our task was made more difficult by reason of the fact that, while 
the labor laws require the State Factory Inspector to keep a record 
of those concerns that employ young people from fourteen to sixteen 
years of age, those above sixteen are classed as adults. It was, there- 
fore, necessary to discover by personal investigation where boys 
above sixteen were to be found. Boys above sixteen were those in 
whom we were especially interested, as they had usually been out of 
school for some time. 

The successful lines of approach 

The boys tested were obtained as follows : 

(1) By the cooperation of sympathetic employers willing to 
give the time of the boys and to exercise a measure of authority to 
get them to submit to the tests. 

(2) By the courtesy of Superintendent Young we were allowed 
to give the tests in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades in the night 
schools. 

(3) Superintendent Young also gave similar permission, of 
which we availed ourselves, in regard to the Apprentice Schools, 
which were in session at this time. 

A word of explanation is here given. The public night schools 
are conducted for the benefit of those people who can not avail 



PURPOSE, METHODS AND GENERAL RESULTS 275 

themselves of the advantages of the day schools. A large number 
of foreigners attend to be taught the English language. Then, for 
the benefit of those who had to drop out of the grades of the day 
school in order to go to work, a regular grade system is conducted 
leading to common-school graduation. It was with the sixth, seventh 
and eighth grades of the latter class that we dealt. These grades 
were made up chiefly of boys between the ages of fourteen and 
twenty. It was an easy matter to eliminate the papers of the girls 
and women and the few older men before our results were made up. 

The Apprentice Schools run three months in the year for the 
benefit of the apprentices of the Carpenters' Union of the city. 

It is, therefore, seen that we found three types of boys, which 
groups are discriminated throughout our report : those in the night 
schools, those in the Apprentice Schools, and those out of school. 

Method of grading 

As remarked above, we did not deal with grades below the sixth 
in the night school, the reason being that these lower grades were 
made up almost entirely of people who had never had the oppor- 
tunity to attend the day schools in this country, and the average age 
was too high for our purpose. In the sixth-grade night school we 
found boys who had left the fourth, fifth and sixth grades of the 
day school on having reached fourteen years of age. Assuming that 
a child should reach the eighth grade by the time that he is fourteen, 
these boys were all retarded when they left the day school, some 
more than others. These youths, who enter the sixth-grade night 
school in this retarded condition, are, if necessary, kept in this grade 
until they come up to standard. While the grading is sufficiently 
flexible to allow a boy who had formerly been only in the fourth- 
grade day school to attend the sixth-grade night school, he will not 
be passed on to the seventh-grade night school as soon as the boy 
who was in the fifth grade when he left the day school. 

In the seventh and eighth grades the pupils for the most part 
were less retarded on leaving the day school ; their average age is 
slightly less than the average age of the sixth grade, and the grading 
is a little closer in the seventh and eighth. 

The young people, therefore, who are in the night schools have 
just the advantage implied in that fact, over those who have left 
the public schools altogether at a corresponding grade. 

Undoubtedly, for those who have attended the night schools dili- 



276 REPORT OX VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIKG 

gently for a considerable length of time, this advantage is very 
great. But in the making up of these tables the advantage over the 
boys out of school is offset by the facts : 

(a) That many of those whom we tested had just entered 
the night schools. 

(b) That many are very irregular in attendance. 

(c) Some attend merely to have a place to spend their eve- 
nings, taking very little interest in their work. 

(d) The night schools run for five months in the year and, 
theoretically, for two hours an evening. Practically owing to 
late arrivals, teachers are often unable to hold classes more than 
one hour and a half. 

(e) A room in the night schools that fails to maintain an 
attendance of twenty pupils is closed. Therefore, in order to 
keep the necessary number, a pupil may be classified above his 
grade. Say a seventh-grader may be called an eighth-grader. 
In our tables, then, he is an eighth grader, whereas, had we met 
the same boy out of school his name would have gone down on 
the tables as a seventh-grader. The number of such cases, how- 
ever, is not large. 

The boys in the Apprentice Schools, both by the school author- 
ities and in our tables, are classified according to the grades they 
held on leaving the public day schools. Whatever training they had 
received in the Apprentice Schools was, as regards its effect on their 
standing in our tables, clear gain. However, this was less than 
might be supposed, for the following reasons : 

(a) The schools are conducted only three months in the 
year. 

(b) The tests were made just after the schools had com- 
menced, so that the boys were not fresh in the work. 

(c) Irregularity of attendance is even more pronounced 
here than in the night schools. 

(d) The fact that the boys had been out of touch with 
schoolwork for some time before they were apprenticed had 
shifted the center of attention from schoolwork and rendered 
them careless and even resentful of it. 

(e) The Apprentice Schools run three months in the winter 
each year for four years. Hence some of the boys had been in 
the school for three full winters, some for two, some for one, 



PURPOSE, METHODS AND GENERAL RESULTS 277 

and some for only a few weeks. Yet their grading as sixth, 
seventh and eighth grades is unaffected by this varying duration 
of time in the Apprentice Schools. 

The boys out of school were classified according to the grade 
held when they left school. 

The average age of the different groups : 
I (night schools) seventeen years. 
II (Apprentice Schools) nineteen years. 
Ill (boys out of school) seventeen years. 
In groups I and III the average age of the sixth grade was sHghtly 
greater than the average of either the seventh or eighth. This was 
not noted in group II. 

Summary of results 

Two main points stood out clearly in the arithmetic test : 

First. — The boys of the eighth grade were manifestly superior 
to those of the seventh, as were the seventh superior to the sixth, 
in a test which should have been worked by all. 

Second. — The boys who were in what might be termed a con- 
tinuation school were ahead of the boys of the corresponding grades 
who were out of school. 

The same conclusions held, in general, for the other tests. 

The occupation tables reveal that there is a great demand on 
the part of a large class of our population for trade, or commercial 
training, which is not oft"ered in the schools of the city. The 205 
boys in Group I (boys out of school) were asked if they could have 
stayed in school if they had cared to do so. More than 90 per cent 
said they had not left school because of the necessity of going to 
work, but that they were tired of school. When asked if they would 
have stayed in school, if they could have been getting trade training, 
fully 75 per cent said '' yes." 

As a considerable number of the boys were not willing to reveal 
the salary they were getting, no averages are published as to the 
salaries of these particular boys, but the writer interviewed ten 
employment managers of the larger establishments in the city, and 
an average of their figures would place the wage of boys between 
fourteen and sixteen at $4.25. Inasmuch as most of these boys had 
carfare to pay, and bought their noon lunch, the returns to the boys' 
families would hardly compensate for the loss of schooling during 
those years, in the majority of the cases. 



278 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



CHAPTER XV 

THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 



The first part of the test in arithmetic is a set of four problems, 
which we will term the " fundamentals," taken from the list used 
by J. N. Rice in his extensive tests of school children, the results of 
which were published in the Forum, Volume 34. The first problem 
is of fourth-grade difficulty, the second and third should be worked 
in the fifth grade, the fourth because of the decimal would be classi- 
fied as a sixth-grade problem. The last part of the arithmetic test 
is a group of four problems which might be called an exercise in 
objectified fractions, which teachers assure me would be easy for 
properly instructed fifth-grade pupils. 

The arithmetic test was made uniform for all, except in the case 
of a few boys who had left school, below the sixth grade. They 
were given a somewhat easier test. 

The two sets of problems given to all above the fifth grade are 
herewith appended. 

Set I. Fundamentals 

1. If a boy pays $2.83 for 100 papers, and sells them at 4 cents apiece, 
how much does he make? 

2. A flour merchant bought 1,437 barrels of flour at $7 a barrel. He 
sold 900 of these barrels at $9 a barrel and the remainder at $6 a barrel. 
How much did he make? 

3. If a train runs 31^ miles an hour, how long will it take a train to 
run from Buffalo to Omaha, a distance of 1,045 miles? 

4. A farmer's wife bought 2.75 yards of table linen at 87 cents a yard 
and 16 yards of flannel at 55 cents a yard. She paid in butter at 27 cents a 
pound. How many pounds of butter was she obliged to give? 



THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 



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280 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

The first two problems involve only simple operations in the 
fundamental processes of multiplication, subtraction and addition. 
The third problem calls for knowledge of fractions and division, 
while the fourth contains a decimal. 

The second set involves nothing but fractions put in practical 
form. Problems involving square root, per cent or interest, depend- 
ing more or less on the memory of a rule for their solution, were 
intentionally left out. 

It seems fair to say that this test represents the minimum amount 
of arithmetic that any reasonably equipped child should carry from 
school into life. 

The method of grading was as follows : 

(a) A problem solved correctly in all particulars we called — 
Right. 

(b) Where mechanical error only occurred we graded the 
answer as correct in — Principle. 

(c) The third ranking was — Wrong. 

(d) The fourth — Not attempted. 

We feel that this form shows the essential facts better than 
would any device for indicating percentages. 

Separate tables were made for each problem showing relative 
standing of each grade on each of the eight problems. 

The papers and tables show the following significant facts : 

(a) In the three groups of boys on a test which should pre- 
sumably be equally easy for all, the ranks range consistently down- 
vvard for each grade from high school to sixth. 

Group I (Night school) 

The totals for this group (as shown in Table \) reveal that of 
the boys of the eighth grade 76 per cent solve correctly both as to 
method and mechanical execution all the problems in the test on 
fundamentals. In like manner, 60 per cent solve correctly all the 
problems in the rectangle test. 

Of the seventh-grade boys of Group I 56 per cent solve the 
fundamental tests and 42 per cent the rectangle tests. 

In the sixth grade, Group I, the percentages are 3G per cent 
correct for the fundamental and 34 per cent correct for the rectangle 
problems. 



THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 281 

Group II (Apprentice Schools) 

Table \' reveals that of high-school boys (none of which grade 
appear in the preceding group) 96 per cent solve correctly both as 
to method and mechanical accuracy all the problems in the funda- 
mental tests, 92 per cent of the rectangle tests. 

For the 8th grade the percentages are 88 per cent and 86 per cent. 
For the 7th grade 76 per cent and 67 per cent. 
For the 6th grade 66 per cent and 31 per cent. 

Group III (Boys out of school) 

High school, 79 per cent on fundamentals, 86 per cent on the 
rectangle tests. 

Eighth grade, 62 per cent and 54 per cent. 
Seventh grade, 48 per cent and 23 per cent. 
Sixth grade, 36 per cent and 22 per cent. 

Table six shows the totals for each grade throughout the three 
groups. 

High school — fundamentals 88 per cent, rectangle 89 per cent. 

Eighth grade — fundamentals 75 per cent, rectangle 67 per cent. 

Seventh grade — f imdamentals 60 per cent, rectangle 42 per cent. 

Sixth grade — fundamentals 46 per cent, rectangle 29 per cent. 

(b) The difference in favor of the higher grades is not always 
in knowledge of the principles involved but in speed, accuracy and 
neatness — qualities that are particularly developed in the school- 
room. This is shown by the papers themselves. 

When the sixth-grade boy gets the principle of his problem 
wrong he becomes so involved that he also fails in mechanical 
accurac}^ wdiile an eighth-grade boy, even if he err in the principle 
of his problem, will often carry it out correctly in all other respects. 
This fact largely accounts for the dift'erence between the higher and 
lower grades in the solution of the first or easiest problem in fun- 
damentals. This difference is : 

Group I. 8th grade, 91 per cent; 7th, 77 per cent; 6th, 63 per 
cent. 

Group II. 8th grade, 98 per cent ; 7th, 97 per cent ; 6th, 86 per 
cent. 

Group III. 8th grade, 90 per cent ; 7th, 87 per cent ; 6th, 73 per 
cent. 



282 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

(c) That the difference between the rankings of the grades is 
not merely due to a difference in degree of mechanical skill, but also 
involves knowledge of principles is shown by the discrepancy between 
the higher and lower grades in the solution of the fourth, the most 
difficult of the fundamental problems. The following figures reveal 
this: 

Group I. 8th grade, 58 per cent; 7th, 32 per cent; 6th, 10 per 
cent. 

Group 11. 8th grade, 80 per cent ; 7th, 61 per cent ; 6th, 38 per 
cent. 

Group III. 8th grade, 36 per cent ; 7th, 19 per cent ; 6th, per 
cent. 

(d) This difference extends to the ability to reason — to handle 
the real problems that come before men in actual life. That the 
boy who leaves school in the sixth grade is at a distinct disadvantage 
in comparison with the one who remains longer in school is shown 
by the totals in table six for the work on the rectangle : 8th grade, 67 
per cent, 7th, 42 per cent, 6th, 29 per cent. This is more strikingly 
illustrated in the details found in Table V, especially in Group III. 

Group I. 8th grade, 60 per cent ; 7th, 42 per cent ; 6th, 34 per 
cent. 

Group II. 8th grade, 86 per cent; 7th, 67 per cent; 6th, 31 per 
cent. 

Group III. 8th grade, 54 per cent; 7th, 23 per cent; 6th, 22 per 
cent. 

The discrepancy between grades in ability to solve these problems 
is not due to a difference in age. As already noted, the average age 
of the boys from the sixth is somewhat greater than that of those 
in the grades above them. Is the lower standing of the lower grades 
due in part to lack of school training? Further discussion will throw 
light on this question. 

We now undertake to prove from our tables that the discrepancy 
in the intellectual powers of the boy who leaves school at the sixth 
grade, and that of the one who remains through the seventh, eighth, 
or even beyond, is not merely due to selection — that is, it is not 
due simply to the fact that a dull boy is more likely to leave school 
in the lower grades than is his brighter schoolmate. The dift'erence 
is due in part to the actual difference in school training. Our tables 
distinctly show that the boy who leaves school at the sixth grade, and 



THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 283 

then attends the night school or the Apprentice Schools, tends to 
improve his intellectual powers above that of the one who remains 
out of school. To prove this, note the relative standing of the dif- 
ferent grades in the three groups. 

In the eighth grade, 12 per cent more boys of the Apprentice 
School solve the fundamentals rightly than did those of the night 
schools who are not getting as much drill in arithmetic. In the 
rectangle problems this difference is 26 per cent in favor of the 
apprentices. In the sixth grade the difference between Groups I 
and II is 30 per cent in favor of the Apprentice Schools. In the 
rectangle problems for some reason that is not clear the difference 
is the other way, 3 per cent. 

The difference between the eighth grade of the night school and 
the eighth grade of those out of school is 14 per cent in favor of the 
former in the fundamentals. In the rectangle the difference is 6 
per cent in favor of the night schools. In the sixth grade, between 
the night schools and those out of school no difference exists. 
In the rectangle the difference is 12 per cent in favor of the night 
schools. 

Assuming, then, that the same type of boys quit school at a 
given grade, the one who attends the night school or the Apprentice 
Schools gains over the one who does not. Is there a natural selec- 
tion here ? The testimony of the teachers is to the contrary. 

The tables show that even in the eighth grade a considerable 
number of the boys fail to solve these fifth and sixth grade problems. 
Other tables exist^ which show that a larger per cent of students in 
the corresponding grades, who are attending day school, solve prob- 
lems of equal difficulty. This would seem to show an actual total 
loss to the boy who leaves school before completing the eighth grade. 

The arithmetic tests. Table V, reveal a marked superiority on 
the part of the boys of the Apprentice Schools over those of the 
night schools, and over those out of school, the difference often being 
as great as 30 per cent. This would seem to be due to the direct 
correlation of the work in arithmetic in the Apprentice Schools with 
the trade the boys are learning. In other subjects, such as English, 
the apprentices were by no means superior to the other boys. 

1 Below is a table showing the different grades of the Apprentice Schools, the night 
schools and the boys out of school, together with the per cent of the problems they worked 
right. Parallel with each of these is given the grade and the per cent right for a group 
of day-school boys who were given exactly the same test in arithmetic. The number of 
boys in the day schools was approximately the same c.s the number in the other groups. 
It will be noted that in the " fundamentals " the day-school boys fall below the appren- 



284 



REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIKG 



Eighteen boys of the fifth grade, nine of the fourth and one of 
the third were tested. For them, the two least difficult problems 
that were used for the testing of the higher grade boys, and two yet 
more simple were used. The problems follow : 

1. What will 24 quarts of cream cost at $1.20 a gallon? 

2. If a boy pays $2.83 for 100 papers and sells them at 4 cents apiece, 
how much does he make? 

3. If I buy 8 dozen pencils at 37 cents a dozen and sell them at 5 cents 
apiece, how much do I make? 

4. A flour merchant bought 1,437 barrels of flour at $7 a barrel. He 
sold 800 of these barrels at $9 a barrel, and the remainder at $6 a barrel. 
How much did he make? 

This test is certainly not more difficult than those employed for 
pupils of the fourth grade of the public schools. The rectangle tests 
were also given to these twenty-eight boys. Reference to Tables IV 
and IV-A will reveal the pitiful inability of a large majority of 
these boys to solve even the most simple of these problems. 

The total number of these boys tested in arithmetic was, in fun- 
damentals, 655, and in the rectangle 610. 



tices, but in the sixth and seventh grades they are ahead in the solution of the " rec- 
tangle " problems. The eighth grade of the night schools is ahead in the " fundamentals," 
but in no other case. The day-school boys outrank the boys out of school straight through. 
The work with the day-school pupils was done by S. J. Staples, whose results have 
not as yet been published. 





FUNDAMENTALS 


RECTANGLE 




Grade 8 


Grade 7 


Grade 6 


Grade 8 


Grade 7 


Grade 6 




Rt.% 


Rt.% 


Rt.% 


Rt.% 


Rt.% 


Rt.% 


Apprentice Schools 


88 


76 


66 


85 


62 


31 


Day Schools 


66 


60 


44 


79 


63 


39 






Night Schools 


76 


56 


36 


60 


42 


34 






Day Schools 


66 


60 


44 


79 


63 


39 






Boys Out of School 


62 


48 


36 


54 


23 


22 


Day Schools 


66 


60 


44 


79 


63 


39 







THE TEST IN ARITHMETIC 



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Table V. — Fundamentals (Set I) 



293 



LOCATION 


Grade 


No. 


Rt. 
Per cent 


Pr. 

Per cent 


v/. 

Per cent 


Not Att. 
Per cent 




H. S. 

8 
7 
6 


6 

82 
33 
21 


96 
88 
76 
66 


4 

7 

9 

11 






In the Apprentice Schools . . . 


4 

14 
14 


j • • 

10 


In the night schools 


8 

7 
6 


111 
111 

86 


76 
56 
36 


9 

11 

6 


16 

27 

47 


1 

6 
13 


Boys out of school 


H.S. 
8 
7 
6 


19 

103 

36 

19 


79 
62 

48 
36 


7 

'I 

6 


15 
25 
41 
49 


3* 




3 

10 



Table V shows the location of the boys, the grade, the number 
of boys, the per cent of problems worked correctly by each grade, 
etc., in the test on fimdamentals for all three groups. 

Table V-A. — Rectangle Test (Set II) 



LOCATION 


Grade 


No. 


Rt. 
Per cent 


Pr. 
Per cent 


Per cent 


Not Att. 
Per cent 


In the Apprentice Schools . . 


H.S. 

8 
7 
6 


6 
81 
35 
22 


92 
86 
62 
31 




8 
11 
26 
51 


13 

18 


In the night schools 


8 
7 
6 


100 

98 

72 


60 
42 
34 




30 
38 
37 


8 
22 
29 


Boys out of school 


H.S. 
8 
7 
6 


20 
98 
35 
16 


86 
54 
23 
22 




13 
33 

47 
41 


2 
14 




31 

37 



Table V-A is made up the same as Table V, but shows the grade 
and group standing in the rectangle test. 

Table VI. — Fundamentals (Set I) 



LOCATION 


Grade 


No. 


Rt. 
Per cent 


Pr. 
Per cent 


w. 

Per cent 


Not Att. 
Per cent 


Apprentice Schools 


H.S. 

8 
7 
6 


25 
296 
180 
126 


88 
75 
60 
46 


6 

9 

10 

8 


8 
15 
27 
37 




Night school 

Boys out of school 


1 

3 




11 



294 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Table VI is based on Table V and shows the comparative stand- 
ing of the different grades, rather than the group comparison. To 
illustrate, the whole number of boys of all three groups of eighth- 
grade standing have been added together and their averages com- 
pared with the total averages of the sixth and seventh grades. 



Table VI-A. — Rectangle Test (Set II) 



LOCATION 


Grade 


No. 


Rt. 
Per cent 


Pr. 
Per cent 


W. 
Per cent 


Not Att. 
Per cent 


Apprentice Schools 


H. S. 

8 
7 
6 


26 
279 
168 
110 


89 
67 
42 
29 




11 

25 
37 
43 


1 


Night school 


8 


Boys out of school 


22 




28 



Table VI-A is based on Table V-A, and is similar to Table VI, 
except that it deals with the rectangle problems while Table VI deals 
with the fundamentals. 



THE TEST IN ENGLISH 295 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE TEST IN ENGLISH 



The following paragraph was twice read slowly and distinctly 
to 89 apprentice boys, who were asked to reproduce it in their own 
language. 

Test I 

There are a great many accidents in the industrial Hfe of to-day. 
Many of these accidents prove fatal. We are constructing higher buildings, 
cars and trains run faster, and the extensive use of machinery has greatly 
increased the danger. Since every year hundreds of men and women are 
killed or crippled, it is very important that employers guard dangerous 
machinery, provide fire escapes, keep the working-rooms well lighted and look 
after the health and safety of the workingman. On the other hand, it is 
extremely important that the employees learn and obey the rules which are 
made for their protection in factories, on trains and in other places. 

The physical condition often being such as to render reading 
aloud undesirable, and because we hoped by the change to secure 
much valuable information as to the ambitions and ethical ideas of 
the boys, the following test was substituted which had the additional 
advantage of not seeming to be a set English test : 

Test II 

1. Why did you take up the kind of work you are now doing? Do you 
think it is a job in which you can advance? What makes you think so? 
Give your reasons fully. If you would like to do something else, tell what 
it is. Give your reasons fully. 

2. If you were going to hire a boy to work for you, what would you 
want to know about him? 

3. Do you think it would be right to take your own boy's wages? Why, 
or why not? 

If you do think it is right, how long would you take his wages? Give 
reasons. 

4. A boy said : " I know ten good men who are doctors and ten bad 
men who are policemen. So doctors are better men than policemen." Did he 
prove it? Why, or why not? 

5. (a) If a man is a good batter, will he be a good base runner? Why, 
or why not? 

(b) If all boys who are good in arithmetic are good in spelling, will all 
the boys who are good in spelling be good in arithmetic? Why, or why not? 



296 REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 

Questions four and five were incorporated for the purpose of a 
simple test in logic. We soon discovered that the questions v/ere 
beyond the capacity of the boys to answer. Hence Vv'e graded the 
answers to these two questions merely on their form, making note 
of the fact that there were a few boys who saw their logical sig- 
nificance. 

Methods of grading English 

1st Test 

Reproduction of thought 50 per cent 

Form 50 per cent 

In form were included paragraphing, punctuation, capitalization, 
syntax and sentence structure. 

The spelling and handwriting were also graded and shown in 
separate tables. 

2d Test 

General intelligence revealed in answering ques- 
tions 50 per cent 

Form 50 per cent 

The results of the English test 

As between grades the results shows the same condition that 
obtains in the arithmetic. That is, the boy who leaves school in 
the sixth grade is at a decided disadvantage as compared \Vith the 
one who remains longer in school. This is also true in spelling and 
writing. 

The comparison between groups can not be carried out, as the 
Apprentice Schools did not have the same examination that was 
given to the night-school boys and those out of school. 

The fact that the boys out of school did better on the same Eng- 
lish test than the night-school boys (a reversal of the arithmetic 
results) might be explained by the fact that the per cent of foreign- 
ers was larger in the night school. 

Note should be made of the almost hopeless lack of facility of 
sixth-grade boys, and the few below that grade whom we tested, to 
express themselves in writing, even when they seemed to sense what 
they desired to express. They would begin sentences and not complete 
them, leave out predicates and, in general, reveal a complete lack 
of ability to express a logical sequence. To illustrate this point a 
few papers are here appended. The papers are in answer to the 



THE TEST IN ENGLISH 297 

English questions, Set II, and are copied just as they were received 
from the boys. The grade and age of the boy is given at the top 
of each paper: 

Sixth Grade, age sixteen 

3. No you should not take the wages of the boy becose he wonse it 
him selve. 

I would take it as long as he wone to le me take it. 

4. The boy said he nose ten good men at are doctors and ten bad men 
who are policemen. 

5. sure if he kin run fast then he kin be a base ball paler. 

houv are good in Arithmetic are good in spelling and all boys good in 
spelling are not good in Arithmetic. 

Fifth Grade, age sixteen 
Because i want it. 
Yes. 

Because is simply work easily and you dirty your self up. 
I ask him how old he his if he would not old enough i would not hire 
him. 

Yes. 

Because if not he spent it all. 

I take his wages under 19 years of age. 

Because if not he be a bum if he be about 16 years of age. 

Doctors are better than policeman. 

Because policemen are the biggest bums out. 

Fifth Grade, age fifteen 

1. Because I think I can get a good out side work. 
Yes I do. 

Because I now other boys that done the same work. 

I would like a out side job because inside dose not agree with me. 

2. I would want to now if he was smart. 

Fourth Grade, age sixteen 

1. " I did not work i would have nothing to eat. 

We do thing that a job in which you can advance what makes me 
thing so. 

2. he is going to earn his money yeas it would be bettre 

3. to take your one wages yes it is wright to take your none 

4. I know if a man is a good batter will he be a good bas. 

5. They will lern some trad. 

Fourth Grade, age eighteen 
I took this work to make a liviny. 

In questions two and three which were designed to reveal the 
moral conceptions of the boys, the answers were rather conven- 
tional. The answers to cpestion two (If you were going to hire a 



298 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



boy to work for you what would you want to know about him?) 
suggested that the boys may often have filled out blanks in employ- 
ment bureaus. 

The answers to question three (Do you think it would be right 
to take your own boy's wages?) seemed more real, doubtless, 
because it had to do with the genuine daily experience of many of 
the boys. Where a boy had facility in expression the answer was 
often genuinely discriminative as, for instance, many said " yes " 
because the parents feed and clothe the boy. Some said " yes," if 
needed in the family, and if not needed it would yet be right to take 
part of the wages to be saved for the boy. They usually felt that 
a boy who earned should be allowed some spending money. 

The following tables show the grade of advancement, the num- 
bers, and the per cents for the different groups, also the totals for 
the different grades of the three groups. 



AVERAGES 



Table VII 
Boys Out of School 



Table VIII 
Night Schools 



Grade 


No. 


Per 
cent 
Eng. 


Per 

cent 
Sp. 


Per 
cent 
W. 


Grade 


No. 


Per 
cent 
Eng. 


Per 
cent 
Sp. 


Per 
cent 
W. 


H. S.. .. 


17 

78 
32 
12 
13 


86 
76 
63 
54 
22 


96 

78 
76 
68 
32 


83 
79 
74 
70 
41 


H. S 










8 


8 

7 

6 


85 
65 

47 


73 
61 
39 


87 
79 
62 


76 


7 


73 


6 


63 


5 









Table IX 
Apprentice Schools 



Table X 
Total Average 



Grade 


No. 


Per 
cent 
Eng. 


Per 

cent 
Sp. 


Per 
cent 
W. 


Grade 


No. 


Per 
cent 
Eng. 


Per 

cent 
Sp. 


Per 
cent 
W. 


H.S 

8 


6 
46 
23 
14 


78 
70 
51 

38 


84 
81 
68 
61 


83 

77 
69 
67 


H.S 

8 

7 

6 

5 


23 

209 

120 

73 

13 


82 

73 
58 
44 
22 


90 
82 
74 
64 
32 


83 

77 


7 


72 


6 


67 




41 



Tables VII, VIII and IX show the grade (Gr.), the number 
(No.), of boys, and the per cents in English (Eng.), spelling (Sp.), 
and writing (W) for the three groups. The Table X shows the 
average per cent of the dift'erent grades of the three groups added 
together. 



THE TEST IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY 299 



CHAPTER XVII 
THE TEST IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY 



One hundred and fifty-two of the boys out of school altogether 
were quizzed orally on questions of civil government and United 
States history, each boy being talked to for about ten minutes and 
the result noted by the questioner. In addition to these one hun- 
dred and fifty-two boys, twenty-one boys of one room of the 
Apprentice Schools were given a written test covering the same 
ground in civil government that was covered in the oral examination. 
As these boys had had no special drill in this subject, their marks 
are included in the civil government table for the other boys. 

Little comment need be made as the tables speak for themselves 
very plainly. Very few of the boys could be termed good in this 
test, not many were even fair, and by far the larger per cent were 
marked poor or poor minus/ which in this table means very close 
to zero. 

Taking the matter up from the standpoint of the grades, it may 
be said that the eighth-grade boy has enough knowledge of civil 
government so that the more important points of the subject will 
probably clear up in his mind as he gets a little older and reads the 
newspapers more. The same thing can be said for a very few of 
the seventh-grade boys. The information of the sixth and fifth 
grade boys is so meager along the lines of civil government and 
history that it seems doubtful whether they will ever have under- 
standing of what democratic government is. 

It was also a disappointing fact that the boys who were nearing 
their majority were the very poorest, as a rule, while the younger 
boys fresh from school were able to answer with much more facility. 

A list of questions similar to those asked of the boys is here 
appended, and the tables then follow, showing the grade, age and 
rank that was given to each boy in this test. 

Civil Government 

Who has power to make the laws for the United States government? 
What are some of the duties of the President of the United States? 

^ The grade " poor double minus " is also used, with the symbol " poor ." 



300 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



How do Congressmen obtain their office? 

How are Senators elected? How many are there from each State? 
What is the highest state office? Who holds that office in Illinois? 
By whom are the laws of the State made? 

Who is the Mayor of Chicago? What are some of the duties of the 
Mayor? What are the duties of the City Council? 

History 

Name the most important wars that have been fought in this country. 
Name at least one leader on the American side in the Revolutionary War. 
Name the most important leaders on both sides in the Civil War. 
Who was President of the United States during the Civil War? 
Who was first President of the United States? 

Name the last three Presidents of the United States, including the 
present one. 

Table XL — Civil Government Summary — Boys Out of School 



Grade 


No. 


Good 


Fair 


Poor 


Poor — 


Poor 


H. S 


19 
86 
43 
13 
10 
3 


6 
4 


9 

18 
1 


4 
29 
11 

2 






8 


18 
14 


17 


7 


17 


6 


11 


5 






10 


4 










3 















THE TEST IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY 301 
XI-A. — Civil Government Details — Boys Out of School 



H.3. 


Age 


H. vS. 


Age 


H. S. 


Age 


H. S. 


Age 


Fair 


16 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


16 


Good 


18 


Good 


17 


Fair 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


17 


Good 


16 


Fair 


17 


Good 


17 


Good 


19 


Fair 


18 


Fair 


19 


Poor . . 


17 


Good 


19 


Poor 














i 



8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


15 


Poor 


18 


Poor , . 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor .. 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor — .... 


15 


Fair 


17 


Poor — .... 


20 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor — 


17 


Poor — . . . . 


16 


Good 


16 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor . . 


16 


Poor — 


16 


Poor 


15 


Poor 


16 


Good 


15 


Fair 


16 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


15 


Fair 


15 


Poor . . 


19 


Good 


15 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


16 


Fair 


16 


Fair 


16 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor — .... 


15 


Good 


16 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


18 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


18 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


19 


Poor 


17 


Poor — 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor — .... 


16 


Fair 


16 


Poor — 


17 


Poor — .... 


17 


Poor — .... 


18 


Poor — .... 


19 


Poor 


19 


Fair 


18 


Poor . . 


19 


Fair 


16 


Poor — 


18 


Poor 


18 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Poor — .. . . 


16 


Poor 


18 


Poor 


16 


Poor — 


18 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


18 


Poor — .... 


16 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


14 


Poor . . 


15 


Poor — .... 


16 


Fair 


16 


Poor — . . . . 


15 


Fair 


17 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor , . 


20 


Poor . . 


19 


Poor . . 




Poor . . 




Poor . . 




Poor . . 



























7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


Poor 


17 


Poor — . . . . 


19 


Poor . . 


16 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor .. . 


19 


Poor . . 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


18 


Poor 


16 


Poor — . . . . 


16 


Poor .. 


18 


Poor — .... 


16 


Poor . . . 


17 


Poor — . . . . 


17 


Poor 


19 


Poor — .... 


17 


Poor 


18 


Poor — . . . . 


17 


Poor — .... 


15 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor — 


15 


Poor 


19 


Poor — .... 


18 


Poor . . 


18 


Poor 


19 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor . . 


18 


Poor — .... 


16 


Poor 


17 


Poor . . 


20 


Poor 


20 


Poor . . 


20 


Poor — 


19 
20 


Poor — . .. . 
Poor — . .. . 


19 

18 


Poor 




Poor — .... 
Poor . . 


18 


Poor 


Poor . . 






Poor .. . 




Poor . . 




Poor . . 



















6th grade 


Age 


6th grade 


Age 


6th grade 


Age 


6th grade 


Age 


Poor .. . 

Poor .. . 


17 


Poor 

Poor . . 

Poor .. 


18 
16 
16 


Poor . . 

Poor . . 

Poor . . 


16 
17 
15 


Poor 

Poor . . 

Poor .. 


17 
17 


Poor .. . 

Poor .. . 


16 
20 


19 

















302 



REPORT ON VOCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 



XI-A. — Civil Government Details — Boys Out of School 

Continued. 



5th grade 


Age 


5th grade 


Age 


5th grade 


Age 


5th grade 


Age 


Poor . . . 

Poor .. . 

Poor .. , 


19 
15 
17 


Poor . . 

Poor . . 

Poor . . 


20 
17 
17 


Poor . . 

Poor . . 


16 

18 


Poor . 

Poor . 


18 
17 













4 th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


Poor . . . 


17 


Poor .. 


18 


Poor . . 


16 













Table XII. — History Summary — Boys Out of School 



Grade 


No. 


Good 


Fair 


Poor 


Poor — 


Poor 


H. S 


18 
79 
29 
13 
10 
3 


7 

4 


9 
33 

1 
1 


2 
24 
14 

1 






8 


11 

7 


7 


7 


7 


6 


11 


5 


10 


4 










3 










1 





Table XII-A. — History Details — Boys Out of School 



H. S. 


A.ge 


H. 8. 


Age 


H. S. 


Age 


H. S. 


Age 


Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Good 

Poor . . . 


16 
16 
16 
17 
17 


Fair 

Good 

Fair 

Good 

Good 


17 
18 
17 
19 
19 


Fair 

Good 

Good 

Fair 


17 
17 
16 

18 


Fair 

Fair 

Fair 

Fair 


17 
16 
17 
19 













8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


8th grade 


Age 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


15 


Poor 


18 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


16 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


15 


Fair 


17 


Poor — ... . 


20 


Poor — ... . 


17 


Fair 


16 


Poor — 


17 


Poor — .... 


16 


Good 


16 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


15 


Poor 


16 


Good 


15 


Fair 


16 


Poor 


17 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


16 


Poor 


15 


Fair 


15 


Poor 


19 


Good 


15 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


16 


Fair 


16 


Fair 


16 


Fair 


17 


Poor — .... 


15 


Good 


16 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


18 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


18 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


19 


Fair 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


16 


Poor — 


17 


Poor 


17 


Poor — . . . . 


18 


Poor — .... 


19 


Fair 


19 


Fair 


18 


Poor . . 


19 


Fair 


16 


Poor — 


18 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


16 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


18 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


18 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


18 


Poor . . 


16 


Fair 


17 


Fair 


14 


Fair 


15 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


16 


Poor — .... 


15 


Fair 


17 













THE TEST IN CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND HISTORY 



303 



Table XII-A. — History Details — Boys Out of School 

Continued. 



7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


7th grade 


Age 


Poor 


17 


Poor — .... 


19 


Poor .. 


16 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor ... 


19 


Poor . . 


16 


Poor 


16 


Fair 


18 


Poor 


16 


Poor — . . . . 


16 


Poor . . 


18 


Poor — .... 


16 


Poor . . . 


17 


Poor — . . . . 


17 


Poor 


19 


Poor — . . . . 


17 


Poor 


18 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


15 


Poor . . 


17 


Poor — 


15 


Poor 


19 


Poor 


18 


Poor — .... 


18 


Poor 


19 


Poor 


17 


Poor 


18 


Poor 


16 


Poor 


17 


























• 



Cth grade 


Age 


6th grade 


Age 


6th grade 


Age 


6lh grade 


Age 


Poor . . . 

Poor . . . 


17 


Fair 

Poor . . 

Poor .. 


18 
16 
16 


Poor .. 

Poor . . 

Poor . . 


16 
17 
15 


Poor 

Poor . . 

Poor . . 


17 
17 


Poor . . . 

Poor . . . 


16 
20 


19 

















5th grade 


Age 


5th grade 


Age 


5th grade 


Age 


oth grade 


Age 


Poor . . . 

Poor . . . 

Poor . . . 


19 
15 
17 


Poor . . 

Poor . . 

Poor .. 


20 
17 
17 


Poor .. 

Poor . . 


16 

18 


Poor .. 

Poor . . 


18 
17 













4th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


4th grade 


Age 


Poor . . . 


17 


Poor — ■ — . . 


18 


Poor — • — . . 


16 













304 REPORT OX J'OCATIOXAL TRAIXIXG 



CHAPTER XVIII 

PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



From the question blank which was given the boys to fill out 
we were able to learn their present occupations, and the answer to 
question one of our English test revealed what the boys would 
like to do in the future. 

The first series of tables (XIII and XIII-A) that follows set 
forth the desired occupation of 350 boys, and parallel v\^ith this are 
columns showing the age and present employment of the same boys. 

Out of the 350 cases there were 117 who expressed themselves 
as satisfied with their present employment. A further analysis 
shows that 42 of the 117 either have trades or are apprentices learn- 
ing trades. 

There were 19 out of the 350 who expressed themselves as being 
dissatisfied with what they were doing, but who did not state what 
they wanted to do. Only two of these had trades. 

There were nine who have trades that did not give promise of 
being very profitable, and they desired to change to other trades. 

Adding those who have trades, or are apprentices, to those who 
are not learning trades, but would like to, we have 170 out of the 
350 cases, or 49 per cent. There are 35 more who wish to get into 
officework, or business. This makes 11 per cent. Thus, 60 per cent 
of the boys want trade or business training. It is the writer's 
belief, also, that a considerable number of the boys who stated that 
they were satisfied did so merely because they were just out of school 
and had not given much thought to what they would like to do ulti- 
mately. A year or two later they would swell the per cent of those 
who desire to get into the trades, or business. 

The next table (XIV) shows what a number of boys are doing, 
but fails to reveal what they might desire to do. This was because 
they were given the information blank to fill out, but were not given 
the English test because of lack of time, which was explained earlier 
in the paper. 

Following this is a short table (XV") of boys who apparently 
through inability failed to fill out the information blank or answer 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



305 



our English questions so that we could tell v/hat they were doing, or 
what they desired to do. These, for the most part, were of the 
sixth grade. 

The last table (XVI) is based on those preceding and shows 
the kinds of work which the boys mentioned, and the number of 
boys Vvhich desired each kind of work. 

Table XIII. — 8th Grade Night School 



)e3ired employment 



Age 



Present employment 



Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied 

Satisfied , 

Satisfi.ed 

Satisfied , 

Satisfi.ed , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfi.ed 

Satisfied 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Satisfied , 

Dissatisfied , 

Dissatisfied , 

Dissatisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Traveling salesman . 
Street car conductor , 
Theater decorator . . 

Boat builder 

Engraver 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 



17 


Hardware store 


17 


Errands 


15 


Errands 


17 


Clerk, office 


18 


Bookbinding 


22 


Elevator operator 


16 


Door boy. 


17 


Entry clerk 


16 


Music store clerk 


16 


Stock bov 


15 


Shipping clerk 


20 


Pressman-printer 


16 


Office 


16 


Tailor 


19 


Patternmaker's apprentice 


16 




17 


Jeweier 


16 


Pressman-printer 


21 


Printer 


16 


Printer 


15 


Errands 


15 


Music store clerk 


15 


Office 


16 


Machine shop 


16 


Office 


16 


Office 


17 


Printer 


18 


Special messenger post office 


15 


Postal service 


21 


Telegraph operator 


20 


Clerk 


16 


Interpreter and translator 


16 


Errands 


22 


Plumber 


16 


Office 


16 


Office 


20 


Clerk 


22 


Veneer cutter 


18 


Painter and decorator 


18 


Painter 


16 


Office 


15 


Office boy 


15 


Errands 


16 


Office 



01 



306 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Table XIII. — 8th Grade Night School 

Continued. 



Desired employment 

Business 

Business 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Machinist 

Machinist 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrical Engineer 

Typewriter repairer 

Bank 

Draughtsman 

Insurance 

Bookkeeper 

Booklceeper 

Architect 

Architect 

Letter carrier 

Letter carrier 

Special delivery P. O 

Pharmacist 

Pharmacist 

Railroad office 

Chemist 

Automobile machinist. . . . 

Office 

Office 

Office 

Government office 

Railroad mail clerk 

Grain buyer 

Chauffeur , 

Telegraph operator 

Telegraph operator 

Railroad engineer 

Clerk 

Farmer 

Farmer 



Age 



20 
18 
19 
16 
18 
16 
17 
16 
17 
16 
16 
18 
16 
15 
15 
21 
16 
19 
17 
20 
18 
20 
18 
16 
16 
17 
18 
18 
15 
20 
24 
19 
18 
16 
18 
17 
16 
22 
20 



Present employment 



Stenographer 

Shipping clerk 

Filing clerk 

Machine shop 

Page, Library 

Engraver 

Office 

Machine shop 

Office 

Office 

Typewriter deliverer 

Filing clerk 

Window-shade maker 

Office boy 

Bagmaker 

Electrician 

Office 

Student 

Special delivery messenger P. O. 

Shipping clerk 

Box factory 

Cigarmaker 

Wire-frame maker 

Office 

Messenger 

Stock boy 

Express driver 

Furniture packer 

Factory 

Printer 

Painter 

Cloth roller 

Packer 

Office 

Office 

Office 

Order department 

House work 

Order clerk 



7th Grade Night School 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 


17 
20 
18 
14 
22 
16 
17 
19 


Register's clerk 
Machine shop 
vSign lettering 
Jewelry delivery 
Shipping clerk 
Driver 

Furniture finisher 
Clerk 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



307 



7th Grade Night School 

Continued. 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Satisfied 


15 


Office 


Satisfied 


19 


Printer 


Satisfied 




Printer 


Satisfied 


16 


Pharmacist's apprentice 


Satisfied 


18 


Filing clerk 


Satisfied 


17 


Photographer 


Satisfied 


17 


Errands 


Satisfied 


18 


Sheet-metal worker 


Satisfied 


16 


Errands 


Satisfied 


18 
15 




Satisfied 


Grocer clerk 


Satisfied 


20 


Printer 


Satisfied 


18 


Shipping clerk 


Satisfied 


21 


Electrotype 


Satisfied 


15 


Engraver 


Satisfied 


16 


Patternmaker apprentice 


Satisfied 


21 


Clerk, office 


Satisfied 


17 


Trimmer 


Satisfied 


17 


Trimmer 


Satisfied 


16 


Off.ce 


Dissatisfied 


19 


Filing clerk 


Dissatisfied 


17 


Stock keeper 


Dissatisfied 


15 


Office 


Undetermined 


15 


Errands 


Undetermined 


22 


Floor walker 


Undetermined 


16 


Butcher's clerk 


Undetermined 


21 


Clerk 


Undetermined 


16 


Machine shop 


Business 


17 


Telegraph operator 


Business 


17 


Clerk 


Trade 


18 


Filing orders 


Trade 


18 


Machine shop 


Trade 


16 


Stock keeper 


Machinist 


17 


Wiring operator 


Machinist 


16 
16 




Machinist 


Printer 


Machinist 


14 


Messenger 


Electrician 


19 


Transfer checker 


Electrician 


16 


Office 


Letter carrier 


22 


Freight hand 


Draughtsman 


18 


Apprentice 


Office, railroad 


20 


Office 


Civil engineer 


17 


Jewelry deliverer 


Piano tuner 


18 


Final inspector of pianos 
Butcher 


Farmer 


17 


Railroad engineer 


18 


Office 


Architect 


17 


Architect's office 


Navy 


16 


Office 


Printer 


15 


Messenger 


Tinsmith 


15 
21 


Wrapper 
Claim adjuster 


Stenographer 


Traveling salesman 


22 


Stock keeper 
Unemployed 


Clerk. .'. 


20 


Structural engineer 













308 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



6th Grade Night School 



i 
Desired employment 


Age 

17 


Present employment 


Satisfied 


Stockkeeper 


Satisfied j 


16 


Signpainter 


Satisfied 


16 


Chauffeur 


Satisfied 


15 


Office 


Satisfied 


18 


Steamfitter's apprentice 


Satisfied 




Printer's apprentice 
Candymaker 


Satisfied 


21 


Satisfied 


22 


Carriagemaker 


Satisfied 


24 


Carpenter 


Satisfied 


16 


Presser, tailor 


Satisfied 


16 


Special delivery messenger 


Satisfied 




Contractor's assistant 


Dissatisfied 


16 


Driver 


Dissatisfied 




Cigarmaker 
Bottle washer 


Dissatisfied 




Dissatisfied 




Paper box factory 


Dissatisfied 


15 


Tailor's shop boy 


Undetermined 


20 
15 

20 
20 


Fireman 


Undetermined 


Messenger 


Undetermined 


Driver 


Undetermined 


Fur operator 


Undetermined 




Wrapper 
Milk business 


Undetermined 




Undetermined 




Machine shop 


Trade 


15 


Office 


Trade 




Machine shop 


Trade 


16 


Errands 


Trade 


16 


Errands 


Electrician 


17 


Elevator operator 


Plumber 


17 


Wrapper 


Typewriter 


18 


Gold burnisher 


Office 


15 


Buttonmaker 


Office 


16 


Wrapper 


Office 


20 


Cigarmaker 


Telegraph operator 


15 


Office 


Machinist 




' Bottle washer 


Machinist 


15 


Office 


Carpenter 


20 


Wrapper 


Printer 


15 


Errands 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



309 



Table XIII-A. — High-school Boys Out of School 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 


18 
17 
17 
17 
15 
19 
18 
16 
15 
17 
19 
17 
17 
19 
17 
16 
19 
16 


Machinist's helper 
Telephone inspector 
Tube boy 
Order picker 


Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Trade 

Draughtsman 

Mechanical engineer 

Lineman 

Electrician 


Messenger 
Record clerk 
Order clerk 
Office 
Errands 
Pricer 
Foundry 
Carrier 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Linem^an's helper 
Office 


Pharmacist 


Lineman's helper 
Offi.ce 



8th Grade Boys Out of School 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Business 

Business 

Business 


16 
15 
17 
17 
16 
18 
19 
17 
16 
16 
15 
15 
15 
17 
17 
17 
17 
16 
15 
16 
17 
17 
17 
15 
16 
15 
15 
20 
16 


Office 

Office 

Machinist's helper 

Lineman's helper 

Telephone office 

Telephone office 

Chauffeur 

Stenographer 

Messenger 

Order filler 

Messenger 

Messenger 

Errands 

Wrapper 

Order picker 

Tube boy 

Packer 

Messenger 

Office boy 

Tube boy 

Order picker 

Telegraph operator 

Office 

Messenger 

Messenger 

Messenger 

Messenger 

Re-checker 

Errands 


Business 

Business 

Business 

Business 



310 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



8th Grade Boys Out of School 
Continued. 



Desired employment 

Business 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Musician 

Machinist 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Patternmaker 

Patternmaker 

Steamfitter 

Steamfitter 

Wrought shop 

Real estate 

Electrical engineer 

Lineman 

Lineman 

Bank 

Bookkeeper 

Letter carrier 

Plumber 

Plumber 

Plumber 

Draughtsman 

Law 

Office, business 

Correspondence, M. O. house. 

Pharmacist , 

Lathing Contractor (F. A. T.) . 

Carpenter 

Bookbinder (T. T.) 

Commercial school 

Dissatisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 



Age 



16 
17 
16 
17 
14 
16 
16 
15 
18 
17 
16 
16 
16 
16 
15 
17 
19 
17 
16 
18 
18 
16 
15 
16 
17 
17 
17 
16 
18 
18 
18 
16 
18 
18 
15 
16 
18 
16 
15 
16 
16 
16 
15 
15 
17 
16 
17 
16 
18 
17 
17 
19 
16 



Present employment 



Errands 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Office 

Telephone office 
Lineman's helper 
Messenger 
Order filler 
Order filler 
Order filler 
Order filler 
Wrapper 
Errands 
Errands 
Order picker 
Machine shop 
Office 

Lineman's helper 
Telephone office 
Machine shop 
Lineman's helper 
Messenger 
Messenger 
Messenger 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Telephone office 
Machine shop 
Office 

Lineman's helper 
Telephone office 
Machine shop 
Telephone office 
Telephone office 
Office 

Telephone office 
Messenger 
Office 

Lineman's helper 
Carrier 
Messenger 
Messenger 
Packer 
Errands 
Supply clerk 
Messenger 
Order clerk 
Errands 
Delivery boy 
Machine shop 
Office boy 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 
7th Grade Boys Out of School 



311 



Desired employment 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Business 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Electrician 

Lineman 

Lineman 

Printer 

Draughtsman 

Draughtsman , 

Bookkeeoer 



Age 



18 
17 
16 
15 
17 
16 
16 
17 
19 
16 
17 
16 
16 
19 
17 
18 
16 
17 
15 
16 
17 
16 
17 
18 
17 
16 
19 
17 
19 
18 
18 
18 
16 
17 
16 



Present employment 



Office 

Machine apprentice 

Machine shop 

Telegraph office 

Electrician's helper 

Lineman's helper 

Lineman's helper 

Lineman's helper 

Lineman's helper 

Office 

Order picker 

Engraver 

Order filler 

Packer 

Messenger 

Machine shop 

Messenger 

Machine shop 

Office 

Telephone office 

Machine shop 

Machine shop 

Carrier 

Order filler 

Order filler 

Office 

Machine shop 

Order picker 

Machine shop 

Office 

Telephone material clerk 

Machine shop 

Office _ 

Machine shop 

Office 



6th Grade Boys Out of School 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Satisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Business 

Business 

Trade 

Trade 

Office. 

Electrician 

Civil engineer 

Printer 

Carpenter 


16 
16 
17 
15 
17 
16 
18 
17 
15 
20 
19 
17 
16 


Office 
Errands 
Order filler 
Office boy- 
Packer 
Errands 
Wrapper 
Order filler 
Messenger 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Wrapper 
Order filler 



312 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



5th Grade Boys Out of School 



Desired employment 


Age 


Present employment 


Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Undetermined 

Trade 

Trade 

Trade 

Machinist 

Butcher 

Butcher 


17 
18 
18 
16 
17 
17 
18 
20 
16 
20 
17 
17 
16 
17 
17 
18 


Foundry- 
Carrier 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 
Machine shop 



Table XIV. — 8th Grade Night School 



Present employment 


Age 


Present employment Age 


Machinist 


20 
15 
19 

19 
19 
19 
17 
16 
21 
20 
19 


Machine shop 


16 
18 
15 


Office boy 


Office clerk 


Bricklayer's apprentice 

Designer's apprentice 

Clerk 


Errand boy 


Carpenter's apprentice 

Carpenter 

Carpenter 

Errand boy 


19 
19 


Carpenter 


18 


Usher 


17 


Order clerk 


1 Office clerk 


16 


Teaming 


• Machinist's apprentice 

! Making telephone condensers . 

i Baggage checker 

Packer (provisions) 


19 


Carpenter's apprentice 

Filling telephone boxes 

Painter and decorator 


18 
18 
16 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



313 



7th Grade Night School 



Present employment 



Office boy 

Painter's helper 

Office boy 

Piece work 

Office boy 

Machinist 

Truck handler 

Photographer's helper. 

Cutter-tailor 

Printer 

Office boy 

Tagging 

Varnisher 

Office boy 

Mail clerk, assistant . . 

Bill distributor 

Printer 

Bill distributor 

Office boy 

Office boy 

Office boy 

Packer 

Office boy 

Errand 



Age 



15 
15 
15 
17 
17 
23 
24 
15 



18 
15 
18 



15 
17 
18 
15 

16 
16 
16 
16 
16 
17 



Present employment 



Machine shop 

Machine shop 

Elevator operator . . . 

Delivery boy 

Machinist 

Lumber tallier 

Lather 

Office boy 

Office boy 

Office boy 

Baker 

Stock boy 

Blacksmith's helper. . 

Janitor 

Office boy 

Tailor's apprentice . . 

Off.ce boy 

Wood worker 

Helper, awning shop. 

Order filler 

Office boy 

Errand 

Office boy 



Age 



18 
16 
23 
20 



24 
21 
15 



16 
19 
16 
16 
17 
15 
14 
15 
21 
19 
16 
15 
16 
15 



6th Grade Night School 



Present employment 



Errand 

Tailor shop 

Order clerk 

Stock boy 

Bricklayer 

Errands 

Switch tender, railroad. 

Carpenter 

Bricklayer's apprentice. 

Jewelry packer 

Candymaker 

Machine shop 

Shipping clerk 

Clerk, dry goods 

Clerk 



Age 



20 
18 
20 
15 
20 
20 
17 
19 
20 
17 

20 
17 



Present em-ployment 



Elevator operator 

Machine oiler 

Tailor 

Butcher 

Electric light trimmer. . 

Candymaker 

Stairbuilder 

Carpenter 

Errand 

Office boy 

Machine shop 

Drug store 

Bricklayer's apprentice. 
Tailor's shop 



18 
22 
20 



24 
17 
23 
18 
18 
15 
19 
18 
17 
16 



314 



REPORT ON VOCATIONAL TRAINING 



Table XV. — 6th Grade Night School 



Present employment 


Age 


Future 


Failed to reveal 

Failed to reveal 


18 


Undetermined 
Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 




Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 




Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 




Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


17 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


14 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


18 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 




Undetermiined 


Failed to reveal 




Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


14 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 









7th Grade Night School 



Failed to reveal 


20 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


18 


Undetermined 


Failed to reveal 


Undetermined 









8th Grade Night School 



Failed to reveal 



20 Undetermined 



PRESENT AND DESIRED OCCUPATIONS 



315 



Table XVI. — Desired Employment 



Satisfied 

Dissatisfied 

Undetermined 

Trade. 

Electrician 

Plumber 

Office 

Telegraph operator . 

Business 

Machinist 

Carpenter 

Printer 

Draughtsman 

Letter carrier 

Civil engineer 

Piano tuner 

Farmer 

Railroad engineer . . 

Architect 

Navy 

Tinsmith 

Stenographer 

Traveling salesman. 

Clerk 

Street-car conductor 
Theater decorator. , 

Boatbuilder 

Engraver 



No. 



117 

19 

26 

35 

16 

4 

7 

3 

14 
10 
3 
4 
6 
4 
2 
1 
3 
2 
3 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 



Electrical engineer 

Typewriter repairer 

Bank 

Insurance 

Bookkeeper 

Special delivery P. O 

Pharmacist 

Railroad office 

Chemist 

Automobile machinist 

Government office 

Railroad mail clerk 

Grain buyer 

Chauffeur 

Butcher 

Lineman 

Mechanical engineer 

Lawyer 

Musician 

Patternmaker 

Steamfi.tter 

Real estate agent 

Layerout in wrought shop . . . 
Correspondence, M. O. house 

Lathing contractor 

Bookbinder 

Commercial school 

Structural engineer 



No. 

2 
1 
2 
1 
4 
1 
4 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
5 
1 
2 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 



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